PlayDate
by LauraHannah90
Summary: Jacob spends time with three-year-old Renesmee. Will important topics come up? How do they spend their time together? Jacob's POV.
1. Chapter 1

_Authors Note: This story is from Jacob's point of view about a 'play date' that he takes Renesmee on. It's just a bit of fun, and I hope you enjoy it :) Please review xx_

_Of course, I do not own Twilight. That would just be too awesome!_

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I stood outside as I waited for Renesmee. I could smell the leeches - it was so uncomfortable. The bloodsucker, Edward, well… he was okay, annoying, but nice enough and he didn't like me much. Still. Every moment that Nessie grew, I could tell he was worried about what I'd do, how I'd act as she… as she developed.

I wasn't. She was Nessie, my Nessie. I loved her, but I wasn't _in_ love with her.

Bloodsucker should know that – god, he spent enough time in my head to know that's what I thought. But he was too arrogant to pay attention to the bits I didn't mind him knowing.

Why, oh why did I have to imprint on Edwards offspring?

When Nessie came out, her sweet golden curls in pig tails and her sweet pretty pink dress, with white socks and black shoes – that was why. She was so beautiful, and so clever, and so funny. Darn it, she was only three years old, but of course she was mentally and physically about seven. I don't know. What do seven year old girls look like? God knows, I never used to like kids.

"Jakey!" She squealed as she saw me. She ran to hug me, her warm skin against mine.

"Look after her." Edward said firmly as he watched us.

"Sure, sure." I agreed when Bella came to stand next to him.

"Come on, Jake, you promised you take me to the beach!" Nessie squealed impatiently.

"Sorry, Bells. I'll speak to you later. I'll bring her back about seven." I said. "Now, how do we want to do this?" I asked Nessie, bending down to talk to her. "Shall we run, or do you want to get on my back?" A huge grin spread across her face. God, she looked so much like Bella when she smiled, and those god damn eyes. So beautiful.

"Stand back then, Nessie." I warned. I watched her cautiously run backwards, a lot more than necessary – she knew the routine. I made sure she was well out of the way before I phased. I'd kill myself if I hurt her like Sam did to Emily. Luckily, I'd have a pre-warning as to what if felt like; I had to listen to Sam's regrets every day...

I took my shirt off, and chucked it at her. She caught it gracefully; something Bella had never been able to do. Edward growled, but I ignored him. If he was so god damn paranoid then he should put his interfering nose into my head, like he usually does, and see I meant nothing by stripping off. Better now that having to walk around later half naked because I'd ripped it all!

I phased.

I tugged my head to the side. Nessie knew what it meant; she ran over and climbed onto my back, tugging at my fur to help her. And then I ran.

"Faster, Jake, faster!" Nessie squealed from above me, gripping my fur tightly. It didn't hurt; it felt nice, almost like a human's response to a massage. I picked up speed, anything to please Nessie, and I ran, my legs on fire.

LaPush beach was empty; then again it rarely had people on. Nessie climbed off my back and stood back, her little white cardigan flapping in the wind. I cursed Alice for putting her in something so pretty and sweet. God, everyone knew she came home dirty when she'd been out with me; hunting, swimming, rolling around. They didn't nickname me 'dog' for nothing.

I phased back, and Nessie handed me my shirt and my shorts which I put on. It didn't feel right walking round half naked with a seven year old… God, actually it was a three year old. _How wrong it was._

"What are we gonna do Jake? Can we build something? Like a sandcastle?" She gasped at her sudden idea. "I could be the princess and you could be a prince and we could pretend that we lived in the castle that we build." Nessie said enthusiastically. She had such a big imagination – then again, she lived in such a messed up world, she had to.

"Sure Nessie. Which bit do you wanna build?" I asked.

"I want to build the part where the princess gets locked up in, so then you can come rescue me." She said. Her eyes were shining, her beautiful, big, brown eyes. They swallowed me up, whole.

"Sure, okay. Well, let's start. And then we can put that river thing around it,.. you know which bit I mean?" I asked. I'd never been the one for princess and fairy crap – now I only knew what I'd learnt in the past three years. I was getting better, that was true, but I didn't know the names for it. Geez, that was _too _much.

"Okay!" Nessie agreed. She started working, and for a bit, I just watched her. Her dress had dirtied a bit, with the wet sand sticking to the front of it and her shoes were scuffed. The cute pigtails had fallen out so her hair was blowing freely with each puff of the wind.

"Are you going to help me, Jake? Because we can do something else if you don't wanna play." She asked, worried that I'd not liked the game she's suggested for us.

"Course not, Ness, I was just thinking where to put the river." I lied. Nessie just shrugged and carried on. I helped her, digging up big chunks of sand with my huge hands; they looked even bigger next to her small pale ones. She looked breakable, but I knew she wasn't. She was Bella's daughter, and after all Bella had been through and lived - well kind of – I knew Nessie was a survivor too. She had the entire vampire protection thing aswell.

I shaped it with my hands, and by the time we'd finished, it looked pretty darn good. Nessie then helped me with the river thingy, and she didn't tell me what it was called. I walked round the edge, my foot making a valley-shaped line round the edge of the castle. We had to run back to my house to get a cup, so we could carry the water from the sea to the hole. But that only took a minute. I phased quickly, and before we knew it, we were back with a perfect castle and water feature.

"Its pretty, isn't it Jake?" She said, wanting my opinion.

"It is. And you're the pretty princess that sits in that tower." I murmured. If only it were that simple, I thought. Yeah, sure, I could be a prince. She was already a princess.

I felt her soft hand touch my face. My head was filled with the fairytale I recognized to be Cinderella, the glass slipper and Prince Charming.

God, I wasn't Prince Charming. A prince, sure, maybe, but Prince _Charming_? Manners weren't my best quality… Nessie's hand pulled away, and she frowned, her lips pouted dramatically.

"Mummy says I can be anything I want to be." She said matter-of-factly. Yup, except human, I thought but definately didn't say.

"Of course you can. You can be a princess." I agreed. "How about we make it a bit different? Instead of a castle, how about…" I thought for a minute. If I was gonna do this, it'd have to be good. Nessie took some impressing. "how about… a tree house?" I suggested, disappointed by my pathetic idea.

"Yeah!" She agreed, surprising me. Okay, I could do this. I held out my hand, which she took gently. She was always so careful around me, like she had to be with everyone else, like Charlie. Oh… Charlie was the only one she did have to be careful around. This really was one messed up world, and this little girl would never be normal. We made our way into the forest, a place I knew inside out.

"Which tree looks good to you?" I asked, waiting for the approval of her majesty before I started.

"But none of them have houses in." She complained her face a crinkled canvas as she pulled a face.

"Well, no. But we're gonna make one - like we built the castle." Her face lit up, and she dropped my hand pointing up at a big tree with lots of branches sticking out of it. Its leaves were kinda pretty, different shades of orange and red reflecting the season.

"Perfect choice." I smiled. "Come on then, Ness. I need some wood." I looked around. I could pull down a tree, strip the wood from that, I thought. Nessie could help me; she was ridiculously strong for such a small thing.

I pulled at a smallish tree, yanking it up from its roots. It fell with a thud and Nessie squealed happily.

The wood from the tree came of in strips, and I kept asking Nessie to pull it hard. She didn't disappoint, and I carried the wood planks up to the second highest branch. I didn't want to get slaughtered by Edward, or Bella, by building it too high up, but this wasn't an ordinary girl. She would have been bored instantly if she could have jumped into the house…

I'd had to run back to my house, yet again, to get some tools from my garage. Just simple things like bolts and nails so it would be secure. Nessie came with me; I wouldn't leave her on her own.

It took about an hour to make, and Nessie got up there easily. I sat with her. It was small, and the wood was a bit rough, but nothing that would damage either Nessie's or my skin. It didn't have a roof, but it did have sides to it, and was big enough to fit both Nessie, myself and probably another person, like Alice – she's small.

"Jake?" Nessie whispered as she cuddled next to me. She was shivering a little bit, but I had my arms wrapped around her. It wouldn't take long for her to warm up.

"Yeah?"

"Can this be our special place? Can it be our secret?" She asked, looking up at me with her brown eyes. Her long lashes blinked quickly.

"Sure, I guess."

"I love you, Jake." She said, as she snuggled back into my bare chest (it was warmer for her without the clothes).

"I love you too, Ness." I said finally, after thinking whether this was the right response. It was. I couldn't lie, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't love her. She was my world. My very existence, but in a completely different way than Sam and Emily…

Nessie began talking to me about the story that Edward had read to her the other night, the one about Cinderella. I assumed this was where the princess idea had come from. She talked about Rosalie who had shouted at Emmett because he had broken her favourite bag, and how Carlisle had taken her to a hospital the other day because she'd wondered where he went during the day.

"Ness, your mum is gonna kill me. Look at the state of you!" I said, noticing the tear in her dress and the leaves in her hair.

"Not mummy, she doesn't mind. It's Auntie Alice that will kill you." She smiled innocently. I laughed a bit - I wouldn't put it past Alice either; she was small but so god damn lethal. _And_ annoying.

Nessie's conversation slowed, and then stopped. I looked down at her; she was sleeping, her quick breaths making her chest rise and fall steadily. I sighed as I watched her mouth open.

It was dark now, and I knew it would soon be time to take her back. God dammit. I hated this time. Handing her back over, it was so hard. It felt like she was a toy, and I'd finished with her for the day. I'd sleep over if Edward would let me, but he always thought it too inappropriate. Don't know why – I remember when the 'vampire kings' with a weird unpronouncable name were coming and then he didn't mind me. I was going to run away with Nessie to keep her safe. He didn't mind _then_. So bloody temperamental; you should never trust a bloodsucker. Nessie didn't count because she was half-human.

"Nessie," I whispered. "I'm gonna take you home now, don't worry," just in case she was going to wake up and be scared. She didn't. I lifted her carefully, scooping her up and holding her close to my chest. I jumped from the tree house and landed quietly next to it. I walked slowly back to the Cullen house, almost dragging my feet. The only bit I loved about taking her back was that she smelt like me. Everyone complained that she smelt of 'dog' but that just proved she'd spent all day with me.

"That's right, take your time!" Bella called, standing with her hands on her hips, a smile identical to Nessie's on her face, in the opening of the trees.

"She fell asleep." I said, hoping that would excuse my lateness.

"I can see that." She sighed. "Edward isn't happy." She said, taking Nessie from my arms into her own. I couldn't resist, she _was_ Bella's daughter.

"What's up with him now?" I asked, annoyed.

"Well, first off, you don't have a t-shirt on."

"She got cold!" I interrupted, defending myself.

"And secondly," Bella continued, "you're late." She started walking back towards the house where I saw through the big glass wall the Cullen family sitting around the TV, doing various crappy things like watering the plants, or playing a game of cards.

"By how long?" I asked. I sounded like a little kid asking for a longer curfew. Not the nineteen year old that I was.

"Half an hour." Bella answered simply.

"Are you annoyed too?" If Bella was annoyed, thats when I was in trouble. I didnt really care what Edward thought... "I didn't have a watch, you can't blame me! She's safe. She had fun." I replied, raising my voice. What a way to end the day.

"Im not annoyed. And you should buy a watch." She suggested, turning round to smile at me.

"Oh yes. Of course. A werewolf with a watch? Hold on a minute, please, just before I phase, I need to take off my watch. Its expensive you know." I said sarcastically, scowling. Bella entered the house but I stopped.

"Can I come in?" I asked on the doorstep.

"Jacob Black with manners? Well that's a first." Bella teased. I looked at the family sitting round. Esme was up straight away – how I hated her need to be motherly, she made me feel guilty. Edward was staring at me. "Sure, come in." she added, when she realised I was _actually_ waiting for an answer.

"Sup Blondie?" I called across to Rosalie. She hated the name, her face said it all. I would have stopped, but her reaction was just what I needed when I felt like crap.

"Evening, dog." She hissed.

"You're late, Jake." Edward said, like a father who's daughter had just got back from a date.

"A date?" Edward growled, reading my thoughts.

"Get outta my head!" I moaned. "You pick a fine time to poke your nose in, don't you?"

His gaze didn't lower. "Yeah, why not? A date, but only a play date. She's two for god's sakes."

"I know that, but do you?" He muttered, before turning away.

"Oh my goodness!" I heard Alice shriek; her voice was so high, she actually hurt my ears! "What on earth have you done to her Jacob Black? She looks like she's been rolling around in the forest!" Her face was a picture.

"She _has _been rolling around the forest, actually." I agreed, smiling. Bella was smiling too, although she was trying to hide it. "Same time tomorrow then?" I chuckled before turning around and walking out the door. Just before I phased, I waved cheerfully through the glass wall at the family that I had, oh so successfully, annoyed.

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_I'd really appreciate it if you could review - all feedback is welcome. _

_I found it quite difficult writing from Jacob's point of view; I was originally going to write it from Renesmee's point of view, but I thought she was too young. Have I done it right? Any changes I should make? Jacob is a really complex character..._

_I am also wondering about writing some more chapters about other outings that Jacob could take Nessie on. What do you think to this? Would you like to read more? Let me know with your reviews :)_

_Thank you for reading :) xx_


	2. Chapter 2

_Authors Note: This chapter kind of wrote itself. I had the idea in my head, but as I started writing, things didn't go as I had orginally planned. The characters just weren't listening to me! They wanted to do their own thing! So heres Chapter 2, and I hope you enjoy it:_

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Today was going to be fun, I thought, as Nessie rode on my back down the LaPush res. She looked especially pretty today, and Alice had finally had enough sense to put her in suitable clothing; some hard-wearing looking jeans, a t-shirt and a thick jacket. Her trainers looked sturdy too. It did pass my mind that maybe Bella had dressed her today.

Quil and Claire were already at the beach when we got there. Nessie stood back, as always, while I phased back to human, and then she handed me my shirt and shorts.

She eyed up Quil and Claire and then touched my face gently, wondering who they were. She wasn't very familiar with the other wolves, except Seth and Leah and that was only because they had been near at her birth and Seth visited frequently.

"That's Quil and Claire. Quil is a wolf too and Claire is his friend, like you're my friend."

Claire's hair was long and soared in the wind. She was – what? – five, or six, but she still looked younger than Ness. I wondered how they'd get on and I now doubted whether this was a good idea.

"Sup, Jake. Hey Nessie." Quil said, pulling me in for a hug. It was a wolf-thing.

"I don't know who you are." Nessie said cautiously. Edward was always drilling her about talking to strangers.

"Sure you do, Ness, I just told you." I said. Usually she didn't have a problem with people; god, the amount of vamps she's had at her house and she's scared of a human and a shape-shifter?

"Will you hurt my family?" Nessie asked, her eyes narrowed as she looked Quil up and down. I didn't understand what was going on. Why was she suddenly hostile? What made her change?

"Of course not!" Quil gasped, as confused as I was.

"But you're a wolf." Nessie said. She was shivering a little bit, but I was unsure whether it was the cold or she was scared. I sat down next to her, so know we were the same height.

"Nessie, I'm a wolf. I don't hurt your family, do I?" I said, trying to comfort her. She shook her head slowly, her golden locks swinging as she shook.

"There then. Quil is my friend, and he won't hurt you." What the hell had the vamps been saying? She was scared shitless of Quil, something totally irrational!

"Jake, Claire and I will just be over here." He smiled encouragingly at me and walked away from us, sitting down a hundred or so metres from us. I was really miffed now. I knew it wasn't Nessie's fault, and I'm sure it wasn't Bella's, or any of the other Cullens for that matter. They wouldn't scare Nessie.

"Where did you find out about wolves and vampires, Nessie?" I asked calmly. I had to keep calm because I would _not _phase in front of Nessie out of temper. Her eyes sparkled.

"I can't remember." She whispered her face full of concentration. She wasn't lying.

"Show me." I said, and placed her hand on my face. She let me.

My mind was blank to start of with but then the picture began to appear, but badly, like a TV with a bad signal. I noticed one of the vamps faces but I wasn't sure which one. She'd been at Bella and Edward's wedding too. Tamzin? Tammy? God, I had no idea. There was so bloody many of them! She was talking to another un-known vamp about the wolves. I noticed that Nessie was looking for the arms of someone else.

"I can understand why the wolves are here, but I feel so uncomfortable," said one of them. The strawberry haired one.

"I agree, sister. How odd for them too, I must imagine. It is their nature to _kill_ us, only now they stand _with_ us," said the other.

The vision blurred again and I took Nessie's hand from my face.

"Nessie, does it worry you?" I asked. I was seriously worried now; I'd never seen her in this state before. And this girl had had her life at risk and she'd been totally fine during that!

"Sometimes. But you won't hurt me, will you Jake?" She asked. Her big eyes stared at me and she did not blink. Never, I'd never hurt her - _intentionally._ But what if I did? What if it was an accident? What if I hurt her like Sam did to Emily? Or even worse, how Edward had hurt Bella? Of course not, I'd never be so freakin' stupid and careless.

"Never, Nessie. I'll never hurt you." I agreed, pulling her close into a hug and I lay down, her head on my chest.

"What about Quil? Will he hurt me?" Nessie asked after a minute.

"No, Quil won't hurt you." I said firmly. If he did…

"There was a man who didn't like me." She said, her voice trembling slightly. I growled but she didn't move. She knew I wouldn't hurt her.

"Who was the man, Ness?" I asked, through gritted teeth. Who couldn't possibly like Nessie? I'd watched about twenty vamps fall head over heels in love with her. Blondie, who had never loved anything in life except herself, loved her. I didn't know anyone who didn't.

But all it took was the touch of a face to show me. The red-eyed monster, with the jet black hair. Aro. I made Nessie pull her hand away.

"He just doesn't understand, Ness." I couldn't go into the details now. I'd always assumed that Nessie had understood what had happened, after all, she was a lot more advanced than every other child. But nobody had discussed it with her. Bella had refrained me from doing so, saying she was too young to know everything. It was Bella's excuse that I'd used just now.

"I don't fit in." Nessie said. Vampire, werewolf, human. It was true, she didn't fit anywhere. But she also fit everywhere.

"No, Nessie, you fit everywhere. Half-vampire. Half-human. Friends with werewolf. You get the best of all worlds." I said. She sat up, then, and smiled.

"I love you, Jake." She said simply. All it took was those four words to make me soar.

"I love you too, Ness." I said, hugging her. "Can we go play with Quil and Claire or do you want to do something else?" I asked. She looked warily at them.

"We can play with Quil and Claire." She answered finally. I slipped my hand in hers and we walked slowly over to where they were sitting.

"Hey Nessie. I'm Quil and this is Claire." He said as if this had been our first meeting.

"Hello." She said, hesitantly but with a small nervous smile on her beautiful face.

"What would you like to do, Claire, Nessie?" Quil asked. I'd not actually seen Quil around Claire before and I wondered if I behaved the same around Ness as he did around Claire. He moved to mirror her: always tense but so relaxed at the same time, always ready to protect her.

"I'd like to go swimming." Nessie said, oblivious to the ice cold waters and the fact humans wouldn't bear to swim in it.

"Me too! Me too!" Claire squealed. It was strange to think this dark haired pretty girl was older than Nessie. Nessie was so much more advanced on so many levels; physically and mentally, although I suppose today's beginning had emphasised how young she still actually was.

Quil gave me a look. How could we say no? It was impossible. It physically hurt to say no to our imprints.

"Errm… how about we try Seattle? There's a big indoor swimming pool there, I think." I muttered, trying to find a way out of this.

"But we could swim right here. There's water right here." She said, as if it were silly of me to forget.

"Ness, we can't do that. It'll be cold."

"Sure we can Jake. You can keep me warm, and you won't get cold. You never get cold!" She said, smiling. She loved that I was as warm as her; I loved it that she was as warm as me. It meant that I didn't have to hug someone whose skin felt like ice. Bella's hugs felt strange – like putting your frozen hands on the radiator.

"Nessie, remember, not everyone is like us. We'll find a swimming pool inside somewhere." I said, trying not to upset Claire, but we couldn't let her know about vampire's as well as wolves yet. It wasn't safe.

"How about it, Claire-Bear? Sound fun?" Quil enthused, lifting Claire up. "We'll take my truck, Jake. It's bigger." He was thinking about the size of us. Two huge men, who didn't usually travel by vehicles, needed plenty of space.

Nessie ran back with me, Claire on Quil's shoulders.

The journey there was disastrous. Claire starting crying, so then Nessie started asking lots of questions about why this girl was making so much bloody noise. I thought the same. I never liked kids. Not really, I was always too immature. That's what Bella always told me. But with Nessie? Sure she was a kid, but in a totally different way. You could actually have a conversation with her, talk to her like you would anybody else, except there was a bond there. There was _more _there than with anybody else. I trusted her, and she trusted me. Trust goes a long way…

We drove around for nearly an hour before we found the swimming pool. And if the day hadn't been hard enough as it was, we had to get past the reception.

"Four for the pool, please." Quil said calmly, pulling out his wallet.

"Can I see your membership cards please?" the receptionist asked. She was short, slim and blonde. She had that much make-up on, it looked like she was trying to cover up a huge facial deformation or something.

"We aren't members here." Quil said, confused.

"Are you interested in becoming members here?" She asked, pulling out a clipboard from behind her desk.

"Errm, no. Just four for the pool please." Quil repeated. Did it really look that we needed to be members of a gym? There were two little girls (both looking around six and seven) and two huge men, with muscles like iron!

"You have to be a member to enter the pool." The receptionist, Sarah – her name tag read, said.

"How much to be a member?" Quil said, growing annoyed. Sarah obviously didn't realise that we weren't guys to wind up.

"The initial fee is $25 each, and then a further $10 each month after that." She said, pulling out a fee leaflet thingy that neither of us looked at. Nessie pulled at my shirt, and I lifted her up. She put her hand on my face, showing me she was bored.

"For god's sake, sure, rob us blind. Sign us up, but can we make it quick?" I wasn't made of money like the god damn Cullens!

Sarah smiled, pleased that she'd just got two new customers. The signing up process was slow, but we got through it as quickly as possible.

"Quil, I don't have a swimsuit." Claire moaned. Oh my god, I completely forgot about swimming costumes.

"Come with me." I said, getting increasingly annoyed by the pace and hard work the day was turning out to be. "Nessie, Claire, pick one you like." I said, pointing to the rack of expensive little girl costumes. I grabbed some trunks for myself, as did Quil.

Another $87 later, we finally made it through to the changing rooms. But then both Quil and I stopped. Male or female changing rooms? Neither Nessie or Claire were old enough to change by themselves, and I felt really uncomfortable changing Nessie. It had never been an issue before. I hated to think what Edward would do if he saw us in this predicament!

"Errm…" Quil muttered, as unsure as me. This wasn't our job! It didn't feel right.

"Excuse me." I asked this older woman politely, but when she looked I didn't say anything. Huffed, she walked away.

"Can I help you?" Sarah was back, hands on her short hips.

"We don't know which room to go in." Nessie said innocently.

"Well, that is the girls changing rooms, and that is the boys." She said, almost patronisingly, pointing to each room like an airhostess.

"Yes, thank you. We are fully aware which one is which." I snapped.

"Well then, can you please take your daughters into the men's changing rooms as you and brother cannot go into the girls." She said, mirroring my tone.

"They are not my daughters." I corrected, leaving out the part about Quil and I being brother. Being werewolves, there were some extremely big similarities between us.

"Oh." Sarah muttered. She thought this over for minute before saying: "This is not part of my job, but I will be able to assist your niece's while they change." I did not correct her this time, but allowed Nessie and Claire to walk into the changing rooms with this strange woman. A pain stabbed my chest, and didn't stop until they came out, their clothes in their arms with their swimsuits on. I breathed a sigh.

Nessie came in with me whilst I changed. She turned her back, as did I. I couldn't let her sit outside whilst I was inside. Even though in the supernatural world where there were evils such as the red-eyed monsters, there were still human terrors too. Average murderers and paedophiles… I shuddered at the thought.

Finally, we dived into the huge blue pool.

The water was warm, not cool and contrasting like the sea. It was boring. No sudden waves, no pulling current. Nessie appeared to think the same.

"Jake, why couldn't we play in the sea?" she whined.

"Because it's cold." I said a normal answer to that kind of question this time of year.

"But you could keep us warm. Look your making steam now." Nessie said. I looked at my body in the water, and I could notice, and only a little bit, but steam was actually rising from the water! I looked at Quil, who was so absorbed in Claire that he hadn't realised. I hoped the humans wouldn't; I hoped it was Nessie's vampire senses being extremely picky.

But then Claire noticed it too.

"Quil, I think we should get out." I said, nervous. How weird did we look? It was now made clear that we weren't these little girls' fathers, we couldn't change them, we'd just ordered a membership purely because we wanted a single swim and now we were steaming.

"Quil, I am getting out. Nessie come on." I lifted her out onto the side, ignoring the peculiar looks; we'd only been in about half an hour!

I didn't really care about changing Nessie this time round. I dried her off with my shirt and then put her clothes on over the top of her swimsuit. She wasn't cold. I put on the mildly damp t-shirt and walked outside, waiting for Quil as he changed Claire.

I felt like a failure driving home. The day had gone from bad to worse. Nessie had gotten freaked out about Quil, then I'd had to take her swimming in a pool rather than the sea, then we'd had to wait whilst we signed up. The changing rooms had delayed things even more, and all of that had built up to about thirty minutes in the pool.

The drive home was silent.

"Thanks Quil. I best take Nessie back, you know what Bella's like." I smiled – we _all_ knew what Bella was like.

I phased quickly and ran through the forest with Nessie on my back. Unlike our last outing, Bella was not waiting for us. We walked into the house without invitation.

"May I ask where you've been?" Bella snapped, appearing suddenly from the top of the stairs. Nessie ran over to her and hugged her. I wondered whether she'd thought the day was a complete mess up.

"I took Ness swimming." I said. It may have been a bad day, but there wasn't any crime.

"You took _Renesmee_ off LaPush res." She corrected me, her eyes narrow. She was so god damn protective over her daughter.

"Well we had to find an indoor one. Claire is human. She'd have died!" I said. What was so wrong with her?

"Jacob!" Esme welcomed as soon as she passed Bella. "Would you like anything? Food? Drink? Anything at all? I've got some nice turkey slices in the fridge." She offered.

"Err, no, thanks." I refused politely.

"Leave him be, Bella. He had a really bad day." Edward said from the sofa. I hadn't even realised he'd been there; too much like a piece of stone. I watched him chuckle.

"How do you know?" I shot defensively. Oh, he'd been reading my thoughts.

"There are advantages and disadvantages from this life." Edward smiled.

"Leave me alone."

"I had no intention of not doing so." He answered in his usual smart, well grammar-ed sentences. "You did the right thing." He said after a small pause.

"What?" This god damn vamp didn't make any sense.

"Changing Nessie. I saw what you were thinking. Thank you. For respecting her." He said, truly grateful.

"She's three, Edward. God dammit, when are you gonna start believing me?" I asked, not really expecting an answer, but he gave one anyway.

"I've seen imprints Jacob, and I see how people feel about the other." He said calmly. "All I can see is the future and I'm pretty sure what will become of it."

"What? Have you turned into Alice now?" I said sarcastically. I didn't know what was gonna happen, so how the hell did he know?

"Oh, I have something else." Edward added. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "For you."

"Don't be stupid, Cullen." I said, pushing away his cash offer.

"You paid a membership fee so you could take my daughter swimming, and then bought her a swimming costume. I'll pay for it." He offered again. Didn't this bastard ever get told no?

"For god's sake - I took Nessie out because I _wanted _to. I don't want you paying me. I'm not a babysitter. I enjoyed it and I hope she did too. I don't want your money." I growled. He finally put the money back into his pocket.

"Its there, if you ever want it."

"Never."

Nessie looked at me from Bella's arms. Her expression was a little sad, but she was telling Bella about our day. Or showing her was a better description.

"Nessie, I'd going now." I called angrily; ready to get out of the house. I was furious that Edward had offered me money, angry, and offended. I hoped he could read what I was thinking.

Nessie jumped out of Bella's grasp and ran over, jumping up to me. She kissed me on the cheek.

"Bye Jacob, love you." I put her down.

"See ya tomorrow, Ness. Love you too."

I stomped out of the Cullen house and without warning, phased. There was a stomach wrenching feeling – a feeling that I realised came from the phase. Something that was too close and too uncontrolled for my liking. Half a minute earlier, and Nessie and Emily would have been able to compare scars.

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_Quite a long chapter I think. I'm quite proud :)_

So please let me know what you think. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm sorry that they didn't have a good day. It was weird how that worked out. Please let me know if you have any further ideas for a Jake and Nessie outting, and any tips on how to improve. All feedback is welcome :)


	3. Chapter 3

_Authors Note: I'm going to apologise for this short chapter. I'm very tired but was determind to upload it tonight so thats why it's short. I do have another chapter lined up, and this was basically just a filler between the last one and the next to give it a light fluffy feel. I hope thats okay._

_Enjoy:_

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"Jake!" Nessie squealed as soon as she saw me even get close to the Cullen house. It seemed empty, apart from Edward and the big muscled one… Emmett who were playing a game with Nessie before she came running over to me.

I tossed my head up, warning her to stand back whilst I phased. I was always so careful – as careful as possible.

She flung herself into my arms, and I glowed. I was so happy that she valued my company so much. Carrying her into the house, I got a really strong wiff of lemon. I suspected that Esme had been cleaning again – I didn't know why she did it - its not as if vampires were dirty smelly creatures (despite my natural thoughts). She had some kind of vampire obsessive cleaning thing. I'd never really gone for the clean things, preferring mess and preferring even more to make it.

"Where's Bells?" I asked Edward. She wasn't here, I couldn't smell her.

"Alice and Rosalie dragged her shopping. She wanted to see you, but she didn't really have a choice about it." Edward said with a small grin. We all knew how much Bella despised shopping, but she still never managed to get out of it. That's where they always seemed to be – maybe just to gloat about their masses of money, even though Bella still never got used to having so much whenever she wanted it. I mirrored Edwards smile as I thought about how much fun she'd be having. Emmett chuckled.

"Thanks for dropping by, Jake. She's being a bit awkward at the moment." Edward whispered, although I didn't know why. Everyone here would be able to hear him. I looked sideways at Nessie – her golden curls in a ponytail wearing a pair of denim shorts and a green t-shirt – who had a mischievous grin on her face.

"Come on then, trouble. We'll play a game." I'd been called specially to help Nessie hunt. She preferred donated human blood, ugh, but obviously couldn't always drink that as people needed it for the intended purpose - to give it to someone who needed it, who would probably die without it. My being there encouraged her to drink, so today's activity was to hunt.

"Bye Daddy!" Nessie shouted as we walked out the door. I waved too, just to be polite.

"Let's go. Ready? Stand back then…" She took steps backwards and I phased, my shirt ripping into shreds as the masses of fur sprouted out of my skin.

"Let me get on you." She huffed, and she pulled herself up by holding onto my fur. Nessie always got to choose where we hunted – I was here to encourage her to eat the food she was supposed to. I felt smug that no-one else had yet managed it, even Bella struggled sometimes.

Running into the depths of the forest that I called my home more than any other place, Nessie squealed with delight. The mud splattered as my paws landed with hearty thuds with each leap that I took, and birds flew out of the trees hurriedly as we passed them.

"Stop!" Nessie shouted, and I slid my paws into the muddy embankment causing a small ridge as I put on my brakes. She slid off me, landing beside me silently. I stayed in wolf form with my matted fur whilst we hunted – it allowed me to be fast, to be strong and to kill. I followed Nessie as she ran into the trees, blurring herself in the brown woodsy scent. I could smell where the animals were, but of course I couldn't say. Nessie would figure it out; she had a good a smell as any.

We slowed our pace as the closed in on our prey: four deer's. Nessie pounced straight away, grasping at the furry critter with her long fingers and biting hard on its neck. I didn't wait around for long, as I threw myself at one of its friends, tackling it to the floor in a fierce battle, before finally sinking my teeth into its furry neck. The limp body fell to the floor, the wound gushing blood. I phased back and watched as Nessie drank from writhing body of the still-alive deer. Seconds later, when nearly all blood must have escaped from its body, the animal collapsed in a heap on the floor in front of the small girl that I loved so much. Her brown eyes were wide as they replayed each moment of the attack. She placed her warm hand on my face and I watched the focused picture as she pounced and drank.

"I got another one for you." I said, pointing to the second deer corpse lying next to its blood-less brother. Smiling her thanks at me, she jumped energetically at it, straddling it on the ground, trying to play with it in some form or another. I think the battle was half the fun for Nessie.

She drank hungrily from the open wound, and when she'd finished, she looked up and wiped the drip of crimson liquid that had escaped her deadly mouth. She sat on the floor, playing with its paws, tapping them on the ground to make a rhythmic beat. I sat beside her and played with a tuft of grass.

"Are you full?" I asked, unsure whether as she got older she should drink more than she had when she was younger. She definately didn't drink as much as any of the older vamps. Yet.

"I want more." She grinned, jumping onto her small feet and stretching. Sprinting further ahead of me, I allowed myself to phase back into a wolf and chased after her. I dived on her, gently, making sure my weight wasn't affecting her at all and tugged playfully at her green, blood stained t-shirt.

"Jake, get off me, get off me!" Nessie squealed, pushing me off her and running away from me, glancing back with a huge Bella-like smile on her face.

She suddenly stopped, and I almost crashed right into her back. Standing on her tip-toes, she took a dramatic sniff of the air and began sprinting again. Steadily, I followed again until we came to face the two deer's. Nessie snorted in boredom, probably hoping for something more exciting than _another _deer. They tried to run, but both Nessie and I were way too quick for them, pouncing and biting down hard until they fell flaccid underneath us.

"Way to go, Jake." She said, holding up her tiny hand, and I held up my paw. She collided them and giggled, heading to the deer that she had killed, sinking in her razor sharp teeth and drinking again. I never got bored of watching her hunt; it fascinated me the way that she was so gentle and calm on minute, but suddenly fierce, allowing her natural instincts to take over when blood surfaced.

She moved onto the second quickly, emptying it from its blood ridiculously quickly as she lapped it. It was quite disgusting really, but at least it wasn't a human. I'd sometimes wondered what would happen if Nessie did kill a human; I knew it would never be intentionally.... but what if she just... slipped. The treaty would order me to kill her, but I couldn't. She's my imprint. Sam and I had debated what was worth more: the treaty or imprint and imprint had won. Both of us knew how everything revolved around them... But I wondered what my emotions would be towards it. I hoped I'd never have to find out.

As Nessie drank the final drop out of the deer's on the forest floor, I stood up onto all four paws. Nessie dived onto my back, scrambling onto it by tugging at my fur roughly to keep her balance.

Running back to the Cullen's place wasn't my favourite thing to do. It was quick and simple. It was becoming one of my most well-known routes but I couldn't help it that Nessie lived with the vamps.

When we arrived, Edward was playing the piano – some sickly lullaby that Bella liked. Nessie ran into him, and sat next to him. She joined in with him, playing the chords whilst he played the tune. It was sweet watching her with her dad, even if her dad was Edward. I returned to my human form before entering the house.

"Did she eat?" Edward asked me.

"Yeah, she had four deer." I replied, taking a seat on the sofa.

"Wow, that's a lot. Thanks Jake."

"Yeah, no problem. Is it alright if I come round later? Fancy seeing bells a bit, but I don't want to be around when Blondie gets back from shopping, alright?" I asked, standing back up again, not really seeing the point in sitting down in the first place.

"That's fine, Jake. See you later." Edward said, not taking his eyes or fingers off the piano.

"See you later, Ness." I called.

"Bye bye, Jakey!" She shouted from the piano. "See you later!"

As I ran out of the Cullen house, I didn't mind that she hadn't come to give me a kiss goodbye. With my clever thoughts and skills of lying, I'd just gotten myself another play-date.

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_So what did you think? I'd love to know - reviews make me so happy. Don't be afraid to make any corrections or suggestions either. _

_Another chapter should be on its way soon, so keep a look out :) _


	4. Chapter 4

_Authors Note: So this chapter takes place in the afternoon of the previous chapter. Its the same day. _

_I'd just like to say thanks to you all, for your reviews and adding this to favourites and story alert. I love it when you do - it really makes me smile._

_I hope you like this chapter. Enjoy:_

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I had been eating some of Emily's cookies – she did take out's when we were in a rush - when there was a knock at the door; not overly loud, but still a firm knock with a familiar rhythm to it. I staggered to the door, a little miffed that I'd been interrupted whilst eating. Seriously, Emily's food was heavenly.

"Nessie?" I gasped, shocked to find a little girl with messy hair and a dirty skirt at my door. "What's the matter? Why are you here? I was going to come round in about an hour." I'd secured an extra play-date with her after I'd taken her hunting this morning.

She didn't answer, but entered my house without waiting for an invitation. Her large brown chocolate eyes were full of sadness, and they shone as a thin layer of tears made an appearance.

"Nessie?" I said, sitting on the floor so I was the same height of her. "Where are Mum and Dad?" I flinched as I thought of Bella and Edward; if she was here without their permission, they would not be happy, and I'd get the blame. I always did.

She remained silent, but she jumped on me. Her small strength toppled me a little and she lay with her head on my chest as she started to cry. Saying nothing, I stoked her damp hair, untangling the ends as she emptied herself. She would tell me when she was ready. And I'd listen. She needed me now.

"Jac-c-cob" She stuttered as she began to calm down. Time had passed, but it felt like no time at all. I could have lay like this for a lifetime.

"Yes, Ness?" I whispered calmly, waiting for her to answer. I didn't want to push her too hard.

Nessie propped her self up on her elbow so she could look at me. Her beauty was overwhelming. I knew her face inside out, better than I knew anything, but it still made me speechless at her flawless pink lips, her large brown eyes and the defined cheekbones.

"Jaco-b-b… what's im-p-printin-ngg?"

Her question made me ache; physically ache. I felt I could not hold myself. I felt… weak. If I was standing, my legs would have buckled. This conversation was always going to happen, there was no getting away from the fact that someday it would come about. But now? She was three, but I could still remember the day she had been born clearer than anything else. I wanted to avoid this at all costs. I'd had this conversation with Edward and Bella; their thoughts on the topic were clear. Allow Nessie to make her own decisions.

"Please?" Nessie pried, placing her hand on my face and showing her confusion and her upset. Before, I could have told her something else because the word 'imprint' had never really come up before. But I couldn't now. I could never lie to her.

"What have you been told Nessie? Why are you upset?"

Her brown eyes absorbed me. They weren't just solid single brown - they were different colours all blending into one; honey, caramel, a rich toffee colour to make a chocolate brown. They were full of sadness. Her dark lashes shadowed them, flickering as she blinked.

"I hear-r-r-d-d Auntie R-Rose and Uncle Emmett tal-k-king… but…they di-di-didn't know I was ther-r-e." She paused and lifted up the bottom of my shirt to wipe her eyes. It was already damp from the escaped tears earlier. "Rose said that i-t-t was a sh-sh-shame that a wolf-f had imprinted on m-m-me, and then Emmet-t-t said that if you h-h-hurt me then he would k-k-kill you. Ar-r-e you g-going to t-take me away J-Jacob?" She asked solemnly. Through what she'd said, it was nothing I didn't already know. I guessed that she thought imprint meant something like kidnap.

"No, Nessie, I won't take you anywhere you don't want to go. Of course I wont, you know that!" I was amazed, gob smacked, really, that a few words from Blondie and Nessie doubted everything I'd ever told her. God damn it, was Blondie good for anything?

Breathing deeply, I hugged Nessie tightly.

"Jacob, what is imprinting?" She said, her voice returning to normal, but there was still an element of fear present in her tone. How could I tell her? How could I describe the way she made me feel, the intensity of the emotions that I felt towards her? I figured now was as good as anytime. I breathed deeply hoping my words would be good enough.

"I'm a wolf, aren't I Ness?" She nodded. "Well, it's a special wolf thing. What happens is when you're a wolf – a shape shifter – there's this thing that happens and its called imprinting. It's like glue that sticks a wolf to someone; it makes you love them, makes you want to be with that person, it makes you want to do anything at all for them." I tried to dumb it down so it wasn't too overpowering. God, everyone knew Nessie was smart, but I didn't want to scare her off.

"Are you imprinting?" Nessie asked me, a few moments after I'd finished. God dammit, where was Bella, or Edward, when I needed them!?

"Nessie, I have imprinted. I imprinted on you." I said, before I could hold it in any longer. Things sure would be easier now she knew. Or not. She could reject me; tell me the same thing as her dad. Just the very thought made me shudder, made me feel… suicidal.

"So you have to love me? You have to see me every day?" Nessie asked, her voice squeaky, her eyes still wet.

"I don't have to. I do, and maybe the imprinting helped. But I'd love you anyway. Who wouldn't?" For the first time ever, I realized this was true. Before now, I suppose I'd never really thought about it, but I'd seen so many fall into the trap that Nessie created. Her eyes – you fell into them and drowned. Her scent – it was so delicious and so captivating, there was no-one who could refuse it. How much of an impact did the imprint have? Enough to make me stop, listen and look at this beautiful little girl so full of love and kindness? Maybe I would have come to love her anyway…

"Is Uncle Emmett going to kill you?" She asked, and her eyes were battling between the humour and the fear in the sentence.

"I hope not." I said, starting to tickle her belly. She screamed out laughing. Nessie was very ticklish. "How did ya get here, Ness?"

"I ran." She replied simply. My mind began racing at the thought of her running through the forest by herself – she was only three! The dangers in there were endless. What if there had been a stray bear? She probably could have killed it easy, but what about a stray vampire, god dammit? It had happened before!

"Where was your dad?" I knew Edward would not have allowed it, so I was curious as to where he was that had prevented him from knowing from Nessie's thoughts.

"With Mummy in the cottage." I cringed as I thought what they were doing in there, but Nessie's eyes seemed innocent so I acted normal.

"So who was looking after you?"

"Auntie Rosalie and Uncle Emmett. They thought I was asleep, but I wasn't." I nodded my head to show I understood.

"Come on, Nessie, they'll be worried if I don't take you home." I murmured. Edward would know I had told her about imprinting, and that would tint the rest of the day with frustration at his hostile behavior towards me. I was due to visit again about now anyway. Hoping Bella would go easy on me, we left.

I didn't phase as we ran – I thought it might trigger another conversation, or remind her, about imprinting. Holding my hand as we ran, we kept a steady pace that was easy. As usual, the wildlife fled as we ran past them, although hunting wasn't our intention I knew Nessie was attracted to them.

It was Jasper that found us in the forest. I never really talked to him; I thought he was quiet and I didn't do quiet, not really.

"Oh, Renesmee! They're all going out of their minds, seriously, it's been hell for me to be near them." He said seriously to me, scolding me with a quick glance.

"I didn't take her! She came to me!" I defended. God, I wasn't some creep who went around taking little children.

Jasper just shrugged and we followed him back silently, my hand gripping Nessie's hard. Words could not describe the connection I felt towards her, and, as strange as it sounds, I felt it strengthen now we had talked about our situation. There were no more lies. I could tell her anything.

"My god, Nessie, where the hell have you been!?" Blondie snapped, coming out of the house. Her face was smothered with guilt, worry, regret. I had never seen her like this; her barrier was down and she was no longer the arrogant, ignorant blonde that I knew and hated so well.

"Don't shout at her." I said calmly. Nessie hid behind me as she looked, scared, at her Auntie.

"No, don't shout at her, Rose." Edward said, coming over to us. "Where did you go, Renesmee? We've been so worried!" He pulled her forwards for a hug. "Someone can ring Bella now." He added, and I watched as Blondie whipped a phone out of her pocket, pressed a digit and held the ringing phone to her ear.

"Dog brought her back." She hissed down the phone, her eyes never leaving me. It was her fault she'd come to find me. I hadn't kidnapped her for god sake.

"Should have kept a better eye on her then, shouldn't you, Blondie?" I smiled at her sarcastically.

"Don't fight, Jake." Nessie whispered as she crept back to stand beside me. I obeyed her order and took a deep breath.

"Where did Bella go?" I asked Edward, whose face was now full of relief.

"She drove to Charlie's. I think she was making her way round to LaPush." He said. "God, I should have heard her leave." He muttered to himself.

"You don't think I kidnapped her then, like Blondie does?" I snapped at him. Stupid freaking vamps.

"No, I know you'd never do that." Edward said, smiling a bit. It was then that I heard the screeching wheels of Bella's car as they made it onto the driveway.

"My god, Renesmee, you can't just run off like that. If you're upset, you're angry, or anything, you come and talk to me, or your dad or someone else, okay?" Bella gushed, smothering her in kisses.

"But Mummy, that's what I did. I went to talk to Jake." Nessie said her voice full of childlike innocence.

"Yes." Bella breathed. "Yes, good girl. Maybe just tell us next time." She laughed nervously.

"Come in, Jacob." Edward said kindly. I was a little taken aback by this hospitality. Usually they wanted something when they were kind – they did last time.

"Don't let the dog in." Blondie hissed.

"I'm not holding anything against him. He was there for Renesmee." Edward answered.

I followed Edward into the Cullen house. Esme was there, of course, with a can of coke for me. I drank from it out of politeness although I wasn't really thirsty. It was something to do as silence crept slowly after everyone realized Nessie was safe. It crept quietly and then hit us all, stunning us into sitting still and awkwardly. All of the Cullen's were gathered round – it surprised me that Alice was so quiet, I didn't even know she was here. Glancing over at her, her face was fixed in concentration and I bet she was trying to see the future. It would be pretty difficult with me around, but I wasn't going to volunteer that I left.

"So you told her?" Edward said, surprising me again by keeping his voice so calm whilst talking about this 'difficult' topic.

"I didn't really have a choice." I admitted thinking about how Nessie had practically attacked me with her tears.

"I know," was all Edward said. Of course he knew. He knew everything.

"What did you tell her?" Bella asked, stoking Nessie's hair as she lay on her lap.

"Imprinting." Edward answered for me. "I suppose it would come out sooner or later. Hopefully, Renesmee will be a strong enough girl to figure out what she wants without having to follow the destiny you laid out of her."

"Most teenagers resent their parents for lying to them." Carlisle added. "She won't be growing up with a lie now." It was a fair point. If we'd waited and she'd gotten angry because we hadn't told her, we'd all feel bad about it. I was pleased that it was out in the open. Now, we had no secrets.

"What do you mean daddy?" Nessie asked, lifting herself up to sit vertical.

I didn't understand the question, but Edward answered it anyway, taking the main information from Nessie's mind.

"Destiny is like what is supposed to happen in the future." Edward explained.

"Am I supposed to be Jake's imprinter in the future?" she asked, confused.

"You are already Jake's imprint," Edward said, trying to smile. "But it if up to you how you want your future to be, whether you want to be like Mummy and me, or me and Auntie Alice, you understand?" A brother or a husband? Which one would she pick? I couldn't answer that, and right now, I wasn't sure which one I'd pick. She was young, so how could I begin to see her as anything other than a sister, a friend? Either way, it would be better than no way at all.

"Yes." Nessie confirmed with a quick nod of the head. "Can we play a game?" she asked, changing the topic completely.

"Sure." I replied straight away. "What do you want to play?"

"Monopoly." Edward, Bella and Nessie answered in unison.

"Ooooh!" Alice squeaked. "I'll go and get it." She sped up the stairs and within seconds was back with the board game and a briefcase. I wondered what it was for.

"Alice likes to play with real money. She says it's more fun." Edward explained after sticking his nose into my mind, again. Then, Alice flicked the switch on the black leather briefcase and it swung open. Its entire contents was just masses of money! Wow.

"Let's play." Alice said, setting out the board.

"There's your counter." Blondie snapped, chucking me the metallic dog figure and smiling widely at the, well, extremely clever joke she just made.

"Oh way to go, Blondie." I smiled. "No-one figured that one out." I said my voice thick with sarcasm. She just shrugged and took her own piece: the car.

Everyone seemed to have their own piece, and seeing as Nessie was usually the dog (something that made me actually glow with a mixture of smugness and happiness) she paired up with me. Edward and Bella had the top hat, Alice and Jasper the shoe, Esme the iron, Carlisle the horse, and Emmett was settled with a train.

"I'll go first." Alice offered, of course, after she'd handed us all out one thousand five hundred dollars of _real_ money. It was true, it made the game more interesting, and it's not like they would miss it, but it was still… like, wow.

"Maybe we might have a chance at winning, now." Carlisle joked, referring to Alice's ability to see what the outcome could be and Edward's ability to read the mind. Of course, Alice couldn't see this time because I was here. We were all crowded around the dining room table, shouting when the dice didn't roll in each other's favor.

Twenty minutes in and Alice was winning. She had hotels on three properties and we all dreaded it when we landed on her.

"No!" Blondie practically screamed when she landed on Illinois Avenue with three houses of Alice's on. She all but threw the money at Alice and scowled at Alice's cheerful whoops of success. Alice was very good.

"Throw the dice, Ness." I encouraged and she rolled a six and a five. I dramatically kissed her head as we landed on 'Community Chest' and everyone had to give us one hundred dollars because it was our birthday!

Carlisle went next and luckily for him, landed on an undeveloped property and bought it, placing two houses on it straight away. Esme then went and landed on the Carlisle's newly bought houses and had to pay a hundred and twenty seven. Delivering it with a kiss, she was a better loser than Blondie who still sat with a pained face.

"Your turn, love." Edward said to Bella passing her the dice. They were too sickly sweet together, it was kind of disgusting. Bella rolled herself straight into jail, so Edward had to play the 'get out of jail free card' to release her. "Sorry," Bella mumbled, but we'd already moved on. Emmett casually rolled the dice with a double three, landing right on Alice's most expensive property. He was forced to roll again, only to then land on Carlisle's. He shouted abuse because he was no bankrupt. He had only bought one property, not developed it well enough, and even with a mortgage he didn't have enough to pay up.

After that, we all seemed to lose money. Esme, Nessie and me all seemed to go bankrupt pretty quickly, and Alice kept raking in the money. I was a little bit jealous. Edward and Bella were up against Alice and Jasper in the final battle. Every property had an owner, and it was a pretty fair spread too. We all sat in memorization as we watched the quick hand movements as the dice was rolled, the pieces moved and money given to whichever person earned it.

The final minutes passed quickly, and darkness was pressing itself against the glass windows which made up the Cullen house when Alice shouted "Yes!" She scrambled all the money together and my stomach ached at the amount of it! Somehow, it looked less when it had been evenly spread between all of us.

"That," She said, "is going to buy me a brand new outfit." She squealed happily. Just one? I thought.

"Tell me, Alice, how do you do it?" Emmett asked, his eyes narrowed. "Jake was here, so you couldn't see."

Alice shot him a look. "So I'm only ever good at something because of my gift? Well, thanks!" Alice moaned with sarcasm, still sorting out the money whilst Esme packed the board away.

"I best be going." I said, "It's late and Nessie's tired." We all looked at the tired little girl sitting in my lap; her eyes were red where she'd been rubbing them, and still not recovering from her tears earlier.

"Do you want to put her to bed?" Edward asked. I looked up at him in disbelief. Did Edward just say that?

"Yes, I did." He chuckled. "You deserve it."

"And there's no catch?" I checked, knowing how sneaky the vamps were.

"None."

I analyzed it for a minute, before picking Nessie up in my arms and carrying her out the door, murmuring my goodbyes as I went.

The cottage door was open – there wasn't really any point in having a lock, except I knew that Edward and Bella's room had one. Nessie yawned as I carried her into her room, decorated beautifully with little purple castles around the border of the bright yellow walls.

"Come here." I encourage, sitting her on the bed, and turning my back whilst she swapped from her dirty t-shirt and skirt into her blue pajamas.

"Do you want a story?" I asked. Tiredly, she nodded her head and picked one out of the huge bookshelf in the living room. Cinderella. A classic.

"Once upon a time…" I began reading on in my mono-tone voice. I didn't really like reading, but Nessie enjoyed it. She nestled her head into my chest as I read, keeping her eye on the pictures in the book. It was times like this when her child-like side came out instead of that mature grown up girl she liked to pretend she was sometimes. I smiled as I continued to read.

I quietly closed the book when I finished, thinking that she'd fallen asleep during the story. Carefully, I stood, gently kissing her soft sweet smelling hair before I left.

"Jake?" She whispered, opening her eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Will we have our happy ending?" She asked, yawning again.

"Sure we will, eventually." I smiled, kissing her hair once more before closing the door behind me as I made my way home.

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_So what did you think?? I like this chapter - it's my favourite out of them all, so far._

_If you have any ideas about future outtings then please let me know; I think I'm all out of them for now, so I'll greatly appreciate them!_

_All feedback is welcome :) Thanks to those of you who have already xx_


	5. Chapter 5

_Authors Note: I'd like to apologise for the slow update. I am working on my other stories too, and as you all know, life interupts sometimes. It's been a very busy weekend! _

_I hope you enjoy this chapter. I liked writing it - it's a fun chapter, not as heavy as the last, but there's still an emotional moment included. I think Nessie is extremely perceptive, even for her accelerated age. _

_Thanks for the response so far; you guys all made me smile with your reviews/favourites/alerts. Thanks so much for them all._

_Happy Reading:_

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Two days after the imprint exposure was mine and Nessie's next play-date. Sure, I'd seen her the day before too, but that was only briefly because Bella had taken her to see Charlie for most of the day. As hard as it was to do, I understood that I had to share Nessie, so a fifteen minute chat was as good as I got some days.

Today, I'd planned to go fishing. It was the visit to Charlie that had given me the idea – he loved it, just like my dad.

Running through the forest, I felt the rain as it began to fall, droplets of heaven falling from the sky. I loved the rain – it just felt so cleansing as it fell.

"Jake!" Nessie squealed from inside the confines of the dry Cullen house. I phased quickly, slipping on some shorts, before running in to see her without knocking. No-one was with her in the living room, but I heard some clanging in the kitchen.

"You ready, Ness?" I smiled, and her eyes widened.

"Let's go!" She agreed, tugging on my hand with a small force. Of course, I was inclined to go where ever she pulled me, told me to go, where ever she was.

"Wait right there!" Bella said appearing out of the kitchen, with a tea towel in her arms. I don't know why - it's not as if the vamps ever ate anything! "Don't I get a 'hi'?" She accused at both Nessie and me.

"Hey Bells." I smiled rolling my eyes, and I turned to go.

"Don't I get a goodbye either?" She asked, teasingly.

"See you later, Bells." I sighed.

"Renesmee?" She asked, smiling as Nessie plodded over to her, her steps slow.

"Mommmyyy!" She dragged it on. She puckered her lips and kissed Bella on the cheek. "Bye Mommy!" She called, running out of the door with me, gripping my hand and pulling me into the depths of the forest that I ran through frequently.

I didn't phase as we ran, so we chatted instead. It was nice to be in Nessie's presence without being in wolf form even though being in wolf form was easier sometimes. There was never the worry of an unexpected phase, seeing as I had already done it. It gave me some peace of mind.

"Have fun at Grandpa's?" I asked as we ran - the twigs and leaves crunching and snapping as we trod on them carelessly.

"Yup!" She said, popping the 'p'. "We played a game of checkers and then he took me to the diner for dinner. Mommy said I had to eat it, but I didn't mind because we went hunting the day before, didn't we Jake?" She smiled as she slowed her pace to talk easier.

"Yeah, we did." I agreed, matching my speed with hers. Each step with her was pure heaven – it felt so light and easy.

"What are we going to do today?" She asked her chocolate brown eyes that caused me to crumble under the weight of their beauty.

"What about fishing?" I suggested, unsure now whether the idea would satisfy the adventure seeking girl beside me.

"Yeah!" She enthused, smiling widely. "That's what Grandpa does!" She continued excitedly. "He's got a boat and a fishing rod, and he promised me he'd take me fishing one day. Imagine what he says when I tell him I know how!" Her eyes were alight with a fiery happiness and excitement.

"Ness, you know you don't tell Grandpa everything, right?" I said, trying to hold back the crooked smile that threatened to bend my lips. She nodded in agreement. "Well, we're not going to use a boat, or a fishing rod. We're going to catch one properly." I promised. "And you can't tell Grandpa how we caught one, okay?"

"Okay…" She agreed though her eyes were fixed in concentration. "Can I tell him that I fished though, just not tell him _how_ I fished?" She asked.

"Sure, sure." I muttered, realising again just how clever Nessie was. She knew the boundaries, the lines in which she had to play in.

As we reached the edge of the forest, now firmly on LaPush territory, I directed Nessie in the direction of the sea. The wind was harsh as we left the protective barrier of the trees, but each gust made Nessie squeal as it tickled her.

Nessie's body was amazing; she could feel the cold, feel the heat on the outside but it didn't alter her body temperature, or her internal levels. It was strange… and it took a lot of explaining on Carlisle's part for me to finally understand. One thing that did make me smile was that her body temperature was the same as mine – closest to mine than a human, or a vampire. She was made for me. Our temperatures almost matched.

The sand oozed either side of my bare feet, parting under my heavy weight.

"Come on, Jakey!" Nessie squealed as she ran forwards, her little feet clapping on the wet sand and making small thuds.

Sprinting forwards, I overtook her and dived head first into the shallow depths of the sea. The giant leap that I took allowed me to safely swim without making contact with the floor of the water.

"Jake!" Nessie sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes. "You got to wait for me!" She called playfully, dropping her bottom on the sand and tugging off her shoes, followed by her socks. Once again, I would get it in the neck for bringing back a dirty Ness. She took off her jeans and jumper, leaving on her small underwear and her t-shirt.

She skipped into the water that slid around her like it did to a rock.

"Oh!" She squealed, "Its cold!" I worried a little, until a smile broke out across her face as she swam towards me. The water wouldn't carry her weight – she was like a stone – but she was an excellent swimmer, like everything else she did.

"A fish, Ness, yeah?" I reminded her as she went underwater, holding her breath. Unlike the other vamps, she actually needed it. She popped back up again.

"Okay, but Jake…" she trailed off, looking down whilst treading water embarrassedly. "How?" She admitted and I laughed un-supportively.

"Sorry," I quickly muttered. "Errm, you've got to smell the fish, or put your head under water to see the fish." She nodded her head in understanding.

"Do you want me to show you?" I asked at her still unsure face.

"Okay." She agreed hastily, and I suppressed a smile at how like Bella she looked at the moment.

Swimming quickly a few feet away from her, I phased quickly, sending a wolf-made wave of water to bury her. The current bounced off her with no affect on her at all, apart from a giggle.

"Jake, that's not fair!" She pouted, still afloat. "I can't turn into an animal!" Despite her protests, I swam true doggy style, head forwards and spotted a silver trout amongst its friends. Propelling forward, I extended my jaw, snapping my teeth over the writhing fish until it stopped wriggling and brought my head to the surface.

I swam to the shore, closely followed by Nessie, as I spat the fish out. Nessie clapped enthusiastically.

"My turn?" She asked, as she ran back into the white frothy stuff that appeared as the tide rippled backwards and forwards.

Leaping after her, I splashed her again with my huge leaps through the water, barking loudly as she laughed. Her little arms quickly caught up with me, and I wondered where she'd learnt to swim. I mean, sure, I'd taken her before. In the summer was her favourite time, and mine too, as she glowed with such beauty that no-one else could carry off. But I'd never actually taught her? Had Edward? Bella? Or had it come naturally, like talking had to Nessie? She seemed to capture everything with such grace and perfect understanding with no real lesson in it.

Her arms stopped moving, but her legs made quick, solid movements that hit the water and propelled her underwater. Like a mermaid, she dove under and I followed her movements, watching as she approached a tiny pathetic thing that really shouldn't be called a fish. I didn't want to burst her bubble, so I watched as her hand reached out for it, and missed it, grasping water and making a mass of bubbles because of the quick motion. Using her superhuman speed, she swam after it, clamping her hand around it harshly as it squirmed under her grip.

I barked encouragingly but the water gagged me and the bark was silent. She held her grip as she came up for air, gasping naturally as the air filled her lungs. As air hit my own mouth, I barked loudly then as we swam back to the shore. She laid her tiny fish next to mine and pouted sadly at the difference in catches.

Pressing her wet hand against my fur, she showed me exactly what I could see without her hand; two fish, one smaller than the other. I pulled away from her hand and ran over to the side, phasing quickly before running back to her.

I could never be too safe.

"It's you and me, Ness. I'm the big fish, 'cause I'm so big, and you're the little fish, 'cause you're so little." I laughed staring at the fish in a new light.

"Will I grow up to be like you?" She asked, turning to face me, staring up at me. I crouched down to minimise the height difference.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"I'll get bigger won't I?" She asked.

"Yeah, you'll be big like me, in…" I did the math. "Four years." I finished. Four years? Was that all? Four years and she would be fully grown, seventeen forever. The three that had already passed were a blur of memories that seemed to accelerate if I dwindled on them for too long. I was driving fast down memory lane, watching Nessie's life out of the window.

"So, that's when I have to choose?" She asked, again confusing me.

"You're gonna have to stop speaking in riddles, Ness. I'm not as clever as Mom and Dad." I laughed as she sighed and rolled her eyes at my 'clear stupidity'.

"Is that when I have to choose whether you're like Auntie Alice or Mommy?" She exclaimed, heaving her shoulders as she spoke. Oh. How could I answer? Everything that was said, whispered, even thought, Nessie had a way of taking it in, remembering it, and questioning it later. How did fishing result in these awkward questions?

"You choose whenever you're ready." I said simply; it really was her choice.

"How will I know when I'm ready?" She asked, with the intelligence of a freakin' twenty year old, not a three year old! I looked at her physical body – she looked about eight or nine.

"When it feels right." I answered unsurely. She opened her mouth to ask another question. "I don't know Nessie, okay? Do you even know the difference anyway?" I snapped, instantly feeling guilty at her trembling lip.

"Sorry, Nessie." I sighed, sitting my bottom next to her. Even whilst sitting, I was still taller than her, but only by a couple of inches.

"I just don't understand!" She said frustrated.

"Shhhh…." I soothed. "You don't have to. Not yet." I told her. "Be young. Have fun. You'll be older for longer." I whispered to her, and she smiled.

"I want to be old, though. When I'm old, I can do what I like." She smiled.

"I didn't realise you didn't already." I laughed – half laugh, half bark – referring to her manipulative nature of wrapping us all around her little finger.

"I'll be able to catch big fish too." She smiled, glancing back at the seemingly forgotten fish corpses lying against the golden backdrop.

"You're wet." I observed, looking down at the top that clung to her like foil to a turkey.

"So are you." She said cleverly.

"Do you want to catch any more?" I saw her look at the smaller fish, comparing it to the larger one and weighing up the chances of catching anything of a bigger size. Finally, she shook her head as she bronze curls flicked in the air.

"Do you want to eat the fish we caught?" I asked, and she screwed her face up in disgust. I had to admit, they didn't even look appealing to _me_ – and I ate normal human food.

"Okay, so what do you want to do with them?" I questioned her, and we stared at the fish for some time. The water begged their lifeless bodies to return to them, but I didn't want to put it back in. It seemed a bit ironic, putting a dead fish back in the water.

"We could sell them?" She suggested, and I eyed her strangely. What planet did this girl live on?

"Don't think so, Ness." I smiled as she pulled herself closer to my bare chest. "How about we go back to my place, get you dried off, and then take a detour to Grandpa's and give him the fish?"

She smiled widely at my idea, jumping up with such speed and running off to fetch her socks, shoes and clothing that had been left a couple of metres further along the beach.

Picking up both fish by their tails, we ran back to my house quickly, both of us bare feet and hardly dressed. It may have looked weird, but it felt so normal. It felt right to run with her beside me. It felt like I was running in the right direction, because of the strong pull that I got from her.

"Inside, Ness, quick. You may not get cold but Billy does!" I said as I pushed her inside.

"Too right!" I heard Billy call from the lounge.

"We're just drying off, dad!" I called back, and took Nessie into the bathroom. I switched her wet shirt with a dry one of my own, and handed her a towel and her jeans. Minutes later, she appeared out, in her own jeans, socks, shoes and jumper but with a huge t-shirt on underneath.

"It smells like you." She said, holding it up to her nose.

"That good?" I smiled, knowing only too well the rest of the families' hatred of the 'dog' smell, obvious to the fact they smelt repulsive too.

"Yes. Can I keep it?" she asked, wrapping it around her twice.

"Sure, sure." I agreed distantly, as I put shoes of my own on and held the smelly fish at arms length, which were now in a small bag. "Back later dad!" I called, pulling the door to. "Hurry back, son, I want to discuss something with you!" I heard him call, sighing.

"Get in the truck, Ness." I instructed as she hoisted herself up onto the seat, her wet t-shirt in her lap and wet curls straightened out under the weight of the water, falling way past her waist.

The drive to Charlie's wasn't exactly quiet, but there was no talking. Nessie had leant forward, turning the CD on that I didn't even know I had, and began singing loudly to some song I'd never even heard of. It was cute to start off with, sure, but by the third playback I got bored.

Charlie's cruiser pulled onto the driveway seconds before I pulled up outside the house. I saw the confusion etched across his forehead.

"Alright, Charlie." I smiled at him, as both Nessie and I got out the truck.

"I am now." He smiled. "Two visits in two days. How lucky am I?" I'd forgotten Nessie came yesterday.

"Grandpa!" Nessie called, running over to him and jumping into his leg with careful strength. "Guess where Jake and I have been!" She challenged. He looked at me for help and I shrugged teasingly, although gripping the bag tightly.

"No idea, Nessie, where have you been?" He asked, defeated with a smile.

"Fishing!" She announced excitedly. Charlie glanced over to me and I nodded with a smile. "We caught you a fish."

"You should have told me, kiddo, I would have come with you." He said seeming bummed out. "What Jake?" He asked, eyeing up my grin.

"Well…" I began. "I don't think you would have adapted very well." I smiled, letting out a cough that sounded similar to a bark. Charlie stood rigid, an evil glare in his eye as he stared me up and down. He shook his head, ridding himself of my comment.

"Let's look at the fish then, Ness." He suggested, returning back to him normal state. Handing him the bag, he opened it up and glanced inside. "Impressive." He muttered, but not very convincingly.

"We thought you'd like it, because you like fishing, and fish." Nessie smiled.

"Thanks, kiddo." Charlie said, pulling Nessie in for a quick hug. "You guys coming inside? He offered, pointing to the door with his hand.

"No can do. Sorry Charlie. Edward wants her back." I sighed, rolling my eyes which made Charlie chuckle; it was nice that he preferred me over Edward, even if Edward was growing on him now him and Bella had married.

"See you later then." Charlie said, hugging Nessie again and gripping the bag hard.

"Bye Grandpa!" She called cheerfully as she climbed back into the truck and put on her seatbelt.

Climbing in too, I made my way to the Cullens. It felt strange driving there instead of running.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nessie lean forward and press 'play', filling the car with the awful noise echoing out of the speakers.

"Oh, for the love of god, Nessie cut it out!" I snapped, but all she did was giggle and sing louder. What else could I do? She was happy, and her voice was soothing, in the most ridiculous way when she sang to the upbeat tune.

For the fifth time, she re-played the song, and I hated knowing that I'd be humming it until the minute I fell asleep. Maybe that was good – it would mean that there was a connection between us if I sang along.

I pulled onto the Cullen driveway, almost shocked to see that it was full of all Cullen members. Usually, there was only one or two of them sitting in the lounge. They were all doing something useless, as always.

Despite the fact we'd arrived, Nessie was adamant she'd sing along until the song finished a further two minutes and thirty six seconds later. Edward eyed us up suspiciously.

"Out, Nessie, now!" I demanded as she leaned forward for the seventh time to click the 'previous' button. She smiled guiltily, like a puppy that knew they'd done something wrong, her eyes wide with rebellion – or as rebellious as a three year old gets.

"Have fun?" Bella said, appearing at the doorway.

"We went fishing." Nessie announced with pride, "and I got wet, so we went to Jake's to get dried off and then we took the fish round to Grandpa's because he likes fish, and Jacob shouted at me because I was singing." She informed.

"You shouted at her?" Bella asked in disbelief.

"I simply told her to 'cut it out'! She kept singing the same song over and over and over and over!" I repeated to emphasis how much. Bella stood back as we walked into the house.

"But you shouted at her?" Her voice wasn't angry, or annoyed, it was amusement. I think she struggled to believe that I 'shouted' at her – I was usually the obedient friend.

"I may have snapped." I huffed, as Edward chuckled too.

"I think that's the first time, isn't it Renesmee?" Bella laughed. "The first time you've ever been shouted at." Nessie nodded as she dove on the couch between Blondie and Emmett, causing protests from Emmett but a cuddle from Blondie.

"You staying?" Bella invited.

"No, Billy wants to discuss something with me. And the pack is going round to Sam's later – Emily's cooking for us all." I smiled. "Besides," I added loudly, "I need to go lie down in a darkened room!"

Nessie jumped up and ran over to me, bouncing into my arms and whispering into my ear quietly. "I was only joking Jake." She said, taking my words too seriously. "Mommy says that people are mean to other people when they like them, so I was just being mean to you because I like you." I don't think she realised exactly what she was saying, and the affect it had on me. My insides seemed to rocket upwards as she smiled warmly at me.

"That's okay, Ness. I know." I lowered her to the ground and she ran to Bella, placing her hand on Bella's cheek.

"See you later." I called, leaving Nessie with the rest of her family.

Walking away was so hard; I had to defy the gravitational pull that I felt towards her, and each step I took grew harder and harder until I reached the equilibrium. The distance was already there, separating us until tomorrow.

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_What did you think? Please review with your thoughts and comments. Also, if you have any ideas for future outtings, please let me know. I'd gratefully appreciate them!!_

_Thanks for reading :) xxx_


	6. Chapter 6

_Authors Note: I want to apologise for the delay in an update in this story. I got extremely carried away with both 'The Challenge' and 'Incase I Die', both of which got a huge response and for that I felt I had to keep giving more to the readers. (It really does help to review, you know) Unfortuntely, that meant the slip up of another, and it just so happened it was this one. Sorry! But here is the next chapter. It took me a long time to get inspiration to write this, but eventually, it came :)_

_I hope you enjoy it, and it was worth the wait. _

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It had been a whole week since I'd properly seen Nessie but, somehow, I'd managed to persuade Edward and Bella to let Nessie come camping with me. Amazing, I know, but it was a one night stop over somewhere in Canada.

"As long as you take a cell phone and look after her." Bella had said, worried that Alice wouldn't be able to see either of us nor would Edward be able to hear once we were so far away; it was quite a distance to Canada.

"Sure, sure." I'd answered; of course I'd look after her!

So here I was, standing in the living area of the room I had mixed feelings about, waiting as Edward and Bella put a spare pair of socks in the side of her rucksack, and checking that they'd packed underwear and a hairbrush.

"Oh, Bella, please!" I complained, knowing full well they knew they'd packed everything Nessie needed! As if they could forget... I didn't know why they were delaying us leaving, but I was getting increasingly annoyed as they ate away into my time with Nessie, dragging on about things that really were not important. How many pairs of socks could a vamp child need?

"You said she doesn't need a tent, or sleeping bag?" Edward checked, for the third time.

"Nope, I got a tent, and she can share my sleeping bag." I said with a cheeky wink, which made Edward growl protectively. "Chill, 'pops. I'll just keep her warm, safe and happy."

"Mommy, can I go now?" Nessie whined, and reluctantly, Bella nodded her head.

"Give me a big kiss, and remember, if you want to come home, just tell Jacob and he'll bring you straight back, won't you Jacob?" Bella said, her eyes narrowing so I quickly nodded my head. Edward was the over-protective one, but it was Bella that scared me. It was rare when she doubted my trust, but when she did... It could get very scary. I knew what she was like.

"Yeah, bring her home; keep her safe, warm, happy, ten toes, ten fingers... Didn't I say this already?" I rolled my eyes, holding my hand out to Nessie who glided over to me with her bronze curls in pig tails, sturdy sweat pants and tiny hiking boots that would probably be too small for my little finger.

"Ready?" I asked, and she nodded her head as her gorgeous brown eyes enlarged with excitement. "Let's go." I took the small rucksack off her own back and carried it in my left hand, Nessie holding my right, and we walked towards the door.

"Ja-" Bella began.

"Phone, keep safe, warm, happy. Stop worrying!" I demanded, before walking out of the door, pulling Nessie quickly from the house of rules and order and neatness and everything else that was perfect.

"Where are we going, Jake?" Nessie asked as I tugged her arm gently in the familiar direction of my house, with the same sized trees and the scented path that we'd created for ourselves. It meant that travelling to and from both of our houses was just as comforting as being with each other. Well, nearly.

"Because we need to get the tent and sleeping bag that Mom and Dad were so worried about." I smiled, rolling my eyes at their over protectiveness.

"Oh, okay." She agreed, and we picked up our pace, moving with more speed through the tunnel of trees.

For the majority of the way, we raced, and I won. I always tried to balance the times I let her win, and actually winning myself. I didn't want Nessie to be one of those bratty children who always won. Sometimes, she's even surprise me and win without me even letting her.

"Are you taking your car, Jake?" Nessie asked as we neared my house, the grey smoke rising from the chimney. I raised my eyebrows and she giggled at her silliness.

"You don't want to run?" I questioned, but she quickly shook her head, assuring me. "Okay, phew!" I faked relief, pulling her up into my arms, and walking out into the garage. I swung the blue tent bag over my shoulder as the poles and pegs clanged together in a trashy way. Next, I pushed the sleeping bag into a water proof rucksack that had never been emptied, a packet of nuts, a tin of processed meat and two bananas, just in case Nessie wanted human food.

A pair of spare shorts later, we running towards Canada and with every step I felt free. I had Nessie, and really, that was all that I'd ever need in life. Every essential in life meant nothing without Nessie, placing my every need on her shoulders. I wondered what it'd be like to be imprinted on, having the destiny and future placed in front of you. I guess, I understand why Edward wanted to keep it all quiet. Oh well, too late now!

"Jacob, how long until we get there?" Nessie asked her voice steady but bored. Stopping still, my feet skidded in the muddied ground and I turned to face her.

"Oh Renesmee Cullen, do you happen to be… _bored?_" I said dramatically, my voice sounding upper class and my words properly pronounced. She smiled guiltily before shaking her head, biting her lip in the way that Bella does.

"Okay, then, so what would you like to do?"

"Something fun." She said with a mischievous grin smothered over her face.

"That's kinda obvious, Ness – like what?" I asked, and she pressed her warm palm against my face. I saw us making a den out of twigs and sticks, building up a cove for us to sit under.

"A den, Ness, really?" I questioned as she withdrew her hand with an extremely manipulative pout. "Okay, okay. A den. Let's just get there first, okay?" She nodded a victory smile on her adorable flushing face.

Rolling my eyes as she began jumping with a new pumping of joy, we sprinted quickly all the way to the forest clearing I'd checked out mid-week. The trees were compactly woven together like a patchwork quilt, leaving a small patch of exposed grass in the middle. During my visit, I'd removed all loose twigs, made sure that the scents surrounding the area were 'Nessie-friendly' and double-checked that it would be okay for her. The trees were tall, the grass worn, but the sun was shining as we stepped into the un-shaded area, allowing her skin to glow and her beauty to heighten beyond all measures.

"A den, Jake." Nessie demanded, her forehead furrowed with her small, petite hands on her hips.

"All right, keep your hair on!" I huffed, dropping the bags from my shoulders as they landed in a heap at my feet with a small thud. With the tent poles poking out of the top of the bag, I wondered how long it would take me to assembly it. I'd never been camping - with a tent - on my own before, and I was curious as to how much help Nessie would be.

"Can we put the tent up first?" I asked, the roles reversed as she took over as leader, a natural position for her to be in with her bossy, manipulative nature – but I'd have her no other way.

"A den first." She sighed. "Then the tent." She paused for a moment, and I watched as she sceptically observed the place I'd brought her to. "Actually, Jake, we don't need a tent." She said matter-of-factly in a voice belonging to a thirty-year old woman.

"Excuse me?" I said, shocked.

"We don't need a tent." She repeated. "We'll either sleep in the den, or under the stars." I was about to protest, the words on the very tip of my tongue, when the corners of her lips curved into a smooth smile, causing the words to melt away like butter.

"Fine." I agreed, quickly looking around to see if anyone had witnessed my debate with a look-alike ten-year-old, and losing!

She whipped off her jacket quickly, allowing her movements to be less restricted, and she slipped off her shoes too. The toes that poked beneath the bottom of her sweat pants were so tiny, they looked unreal. Maybe it was because my own were so huge.

"Jake, come on!" She whined, and I, too, took off my boots and then my top. She had seen me top-less before on many occasions, and it didn't bother anyone, except maybe Edward, but he wasn't there.

"Aren't little girls your age supposed to want to build castles or something?" I asked as we walked a few metres into the trees, the pile of bags still visible.

"You're the one that brought me camping." She answered smartly, the smile evident in her voice, and I sighed when I knew it was Edward and his quick-witted answers that were rubbing off on her.

"Just get the twigs." I laughed, picking up the larger sized branches from the floor. I did not know how big she expected it to be – probably the size of a house knowing Nessie.

"Ness, you want a tree trunk?" I called to her. I could see her through the line of trees, but I could smell her more. The sweetness that radiated off her was strong, but it was mixed in with excitement, fun and nature.

"Okay." She replied, and I saw the movement of her shoulders as she shrugged. Yanking down the nearest tree, the bark fell to the floor with a shaking of the earth and a noisy symphony of rustling and birds squawking.

"Got it." I called, stripping the leaves from the branches and shredding the wood into thin log like cylinders for easy transport and building. I carried the remains of the tree to the seemingly decreasing in size patch of land to where Nessie was sitting on the grass, tugging at the blades and twisting them around her fingers to make green rings.

"Come on, Nessie. You asked to build a den, so we at least gotta finish it!" I rolled my eyes. Typical Nessie to get bored after a while.

"I know, Jakey, I was just thinking." She said with a sigh, as if she expected me to know. This girl got older and older every day. Well, that bit was obvious. But the changes were _too_ obvious. I noticed her language and mannerisms age even quicker than she was physically. Her hair lengthened, sure, and so did her body. But on top of all that, her mind widened, her thoughts expanded. She was developing too quickly. It was my nature to want her to grow so I could love her in the way Sam loved Emily. But for her sake, and my own, I wanted her to stay little and to enjoy life from a young person's perspective. As some old wise person once said, childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.

The building of the den was extremely frustrating. Nessie's effort was minimal, and I had to encourage her to finish the job despite the fact I wanted nothing more than to chuck the chunks of wood back into the mass of trees and scream out my impatience.

Eventually, when long, thin strips of woods had been stacked vertically in a rectangular shape, and attached at the top with mud, coated with grass in case it rained, I sighed and looked up at the sky. It was still quite sunny, but the bright yellow was turning into an orangey red, proof that, soon, the sun would set.

"Told you we didn't need a tent." Nessie said smugly from the inside where she could stand easily. I, however, would have had to crawl in, sit with a hunched neck or lie down with my feet poking out of the entrance. But I did not dampen her mood. Instead, I nodded happily and muttered under my breath that a tent would have been easier to put up.

"You want to sleep under this?" I asked, looking at it and analysing the chances of it crashing down on us in the night. Not that it'd hurt either of us. That was, of course, until Edward found out and killed me.

"Yeah." She said, plopping down on the grass, her feet underneath her.

"Okay." I sighed. "Spread this out, and put these rocks in the corners." I requested, handing her the prone tent and four rocks so that we had something dry to lie on.

Taking it from me, she did as I said, and then I handed her the sleeping bag which she unravelled from the compacted bag I'd given it her in and lay it down. She put the rocks in the corner, like instructed, and moved out so she was sitting on the grass. If I'd been camping with Bella… well Bella doesn't camp. We'd still be at home.

Nessie began plucking the grass again; only this time she did so with a large grin and wide eyes. It made me ponder what she had been thinking about the previous time.

"Nessie, what were you thinking about earlier?" I asked, sitting beside her on the grass, my bare skin basking in the setting sun.

"I was just thinking about your promises." She answered, shocking me completely.

"My promises?"

"Yeah, like the imprinting. But you promised to always be my friend too." She looked up from the grass, and smiled a little, her lips gently curving warmly. Her pale skin was glowing tenderly as if she had light coming from her inside instead of reflecting it. I didn't say anything in response. What could you say to an answer like that?

"So, I was wondering…" She trailed off, but I was just relieved that she'd broken the silence I was too scared to break. "Can we make bracelets?" She asked, her young girl-like nature finally breaking through the maturing sturdy girl she often was.

"I already made you a bracelet, Nessie." I said, linking the words 'promise' and 'bracelet' together to produce the wolf charm that hung from her wrist.

"I know. That was a promise bracelet, right?" She checked and I nodded. "Well these can be friendship bracelets. _And _I can give you one back."

I nodded with a crooked smile, trying to stop my heart from fluttering too quickly at the love she gave me. I watched as she plucked the longest piece of grass she could find and tied it to another long one of similar size, knotting the blade in equal one centimetre intervals to create a pattern. I was impressed, but I knew we could go one step further.

"Nessie, hold on." I smiled, leaning over to the rucksack that I'd packed. I knew what I was looking for was in here purely because I'd never_ unpacked _the backpack. I'd used it a lot when I was still human, before my transformation, and I fumbled around in the bottom of the bag before pulling out my knife. It had tribal carvings on the handle and a jagged blade.

"Want to make some real bracelets?" I teased, looking at her attempt in her hands. She scowled, much like Bella did, but then nodded eagerly. It only once crossed my mind how much trouble I'd be in if Edward found out I'd given Nessie a knife to play with. It had been pushed to one side so quickly with the excuse it couldn't hurt her.

Getting up, I plodded over to the nearest tree before reaching up and ripping a chunk out of its trunk. I walked back over to Nessie, the knife in one hand, the wood in the other.

"Watch." I said, gently carving at the wood with the knife, and eventually, three little rounded chunks fell from the block. I smoothed them over my running them along the sharp edge of the blade, before I held out my open palm for Nessie to inspect. Her slender pale fingers picked one up.

"Wow, Jake, where did you learn that?" she asked, amazed.

"Tribal stuff." I laughed. "Except usually there's a fire and stories and food too." Her eyes widened with glee, and I saw, through her own eyes, her representation on how the evenings happened. I made a mental not to take her some time. Before, I'd worried about her age.

"Can I go sometime?" She asked, seemingly a little disgruntled that she was only hearing about them now.

"Sure." I agreed as I continued to carve away at the wood, other small chunks dropping off so I could shape them in a minute. But then I had an idea. "How about we have our own?" I asked, but Nessie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she cocked her head to one side like a puppy. "Let's have our own tribal fun."

"But I'm not a wolf." She said, disheartened.

"But I am. And you're my friend." I said, getting up again, and walking over to some of the discarded bits of wood from earlier that had been left at the very edge of our 'area'. I scooped them up in my arms, dumped them by our den, and scraped the grass off a smallish circle patch before moving the logs to the shaved mud.

"Can you find me some stones?" I asked and Nessie ran off with a quick nod of her head. Two minutes later, she returned taking a small pile of varied sized stones from her pocket and handing them to me. We lay them in a circle around the unlit fire and then I finally picked up two similar sized sticks, rubbing them together in the traditional way. Suddenly, a small spark erupted from the friction I'd applied and the fire spread to the pile, lighting Nessie's face with amazement.

"Now all we need is stories." Nessie smiled, and I rolled my eyes. Picking up the knife so I could continue to create the small beads from which we could make our friendship bracelets, I started to talk.

I told her about the first time I'd transformed after going to the cinema with her mom. I told her about the time I'd been to my first ever tribal meeting and where the ashes from the fire had hypnotised me and the atmosphere had enchanted me. I didn't tell her about the real stories told at the tribal meetings but promised she would find out when she went to a real one for herself. I feared I would not tell the story correctly.

I continued to talk until the orange sky had faded to black; our only light source the fire beside me. I continued to talk until Nessie's heavy breathing distracted me, and I gazed upon her sleeping self, bronze curls having fallen out of the hair band and sprawled across her back. She lay with such innocence that I did not move her, in fear of waking her. Instead, I placed myself between her and the burning fire, sure that the night would not bring rain, and wrapped my arms around her.

I fell asleep looking up at the moon in the starless sky, mesmerised by the way it was the light upon a black canvas. I fell asleep with my arms around the girl who had brought light into my own dark starless night.

***

The morning came all too quickly, as I awoke to the sound of Nessie stirring. A small yawn escaped her mouth and I wondered whether I could feign sleep for a few more moments. That was until she prodded me in the ribs with her finger.

"Ouch!" I cried and she sat there, lips pouted, eyes wide, all innocent.

"Jake, we never slept in the den." She observed and I nodded. Her hair was messy with bits of grass in. The fire beside me had run its course and died, ash remaining in its place.

"We fell asleep." I said a little white lie that she did not pick upon.

"If we leave it here, do you reckon it will stay like that?" She said, her head tilting towards the pile organised twigs, which were still in a rather sturdy position. The night must have been calm.

"Maybe, Nessie, but I can't promise anything." I shrugged, wiping the sleep from my eyes with the back of my hand. Instantly, my stomach growled and I reached for the bag in which I'd packed emergency foods.

"Want some?" I offered, holding up the packet of salted nuts which tasted past their cell by date. Nessie's face scrunched up in disgust, her tongue being stuck out as she shuddered from the strong, brackish odour.

"Did you not finish the bracelets?" Nessie asked, pointing with her miniature fingers at the forgotten knife and shaped beads that I'd carved. I shook my head and scooted over to them, tipping the contents of the bag into my mouth before chewing noisily and returning the knife to my hand.

The carvings pressed into my palm. Even without the heightened sense of touch, I would have remembered what they were; there was five triangles joined together with a single thin line. It symbolised family: my dad, my mom, my two sisters and I. It had been years since I'd felt the knife's wood in my hand, or that I'd acknowledged the symbol we'd often seen. It had been so long since my mother's death.

"Jake? Jake!" Nessie demanded impatiently. I hadn't realised she'd been talking to me.

"Yeah?"

"Are we going to finish them?" She exspareated, her eyes rolling in a typical Nessie fashion. I laughed heartedly at her mature side before nodding.

"You want a go?" I asked, passing her the knife that looked way to big for her hand. But her half-blood-sucker strength allowed her to hold it with ease. For a moment, she sat, open mouthed and rigid at the privilege of being allowed to hold it. "Do something with it then, Ness." I encouraged and she began cutting at the edge of the ever-decreasing in size wood block.

We sat in silence until she cut three pieces, where I moved behind her, taking her hands in mine and directing the knife as she smoothed over the edges and rounded the wood into a bead. Nessie beamed with pride.

"Look what I've done!" She enthused, fingering the beads, running her small fingertips over the soft edges. "How do we string them together?"

"With string." I laughed, as Nessie eyed me funnily. Eventually, she giggled too adding a musical heaven-like quality to what, before, was a big boom. Because we didn't have any string with us, I promised we would finish them when we returned.

Again, my stomach growled, not fully satisfied by the measly packet of nuts that I had assumed would be substantial. For once, I'd only thought about feeding Nessie.

"You hungry, Jake?" She asked, flopping back on the grass and hitching up her t-shirt so her belly was on show. The luminous sun was peeking through a hole in the clouds, making peculiar shapes shadows on the ground.

"A bit." I smiled. Suddenly, she jumped up and held out her hand. "Quickly." She said, collecting the beads and putting them in the smaller pocket of the backpack and placing the knife carefully at the bottom. She pulled her shoes on and I slowly stood up.

"What we doing, Ness?" I asked suspiciously, pulling on my own shoes.

"We're going hunting." She smiled with a wide mischievous grin. "You're hungry and so am I." Turning on her heel to run, she noticed the den that we'd made. She paused and slowly turned to look at it. "It's okay. We can always build another." She said as if _I_ was the one who would be upset if the weather or surrounding animals destroyed it.

I quickly pushed the tent into its bag and the sleeping bag into my rucksack, and took off after Nessie with quick, broad strides. She hunted quickly and easily, messing herself even more after sleeping on the grass where small green stains had crept onto her shirt.

The more she hunted, the more she laughed and the greater sense of achievement flooded me. Nessie was laughing which meant Nessie was having fun. With the promise of a tribe evening hanging in the air, I knew that sometime soon we'd have another time just as fun and thrilling as this one.

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_I really hope you liked this chapter. I really did. I thought it was sweet with the right about of 'sensitive' subjects mentioned._

_Please review with your thoughts and comments. All feedback welcome - it really does encourage me. Any ideas? Let me know :)_

_Thanks for reading x_


	7. Chapter 7

_Authors Note: Sorry about the delay in updating. I always need some real inspiration to write something for this story, which is why the updates are slow. I think this chapter is really funny, so I hope you enjoy reading it._

_Happy reading:_

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"Jake!" I heard Nessie before I saw her. And I could smell her. She smelt different today, with a chocolateier tint to her usual fruitiness, but I accepted it as she ran at me with her full force, pounding into me. "I got a game for you, Jakey!" She squealed, but that only scared me. What kind of game?

"Hey, Nessie," I greeted, taking her small hand in my large one as she led me into the Cullen house. What surprised me was that Blondie and Alice were sitting on the sofa, Blondie a smug grin on her face, Alice an excited one.

"What's going on, Blondie?" I smiled sarcastically, "Not very often you smile,"

Blondie scowled as Nessie pulled me over to the table that had a variety of different coloured boxes awaiting further use.

"This is… a surprise," I stated, looking around. It kinda scared me that I was in a room, alone, with Pixie, Blondie and my little Princess. Where was Emmett? He was huge; he could add some masculinity to the room… apparently not.

"I want to play dress up," Nessie smiled in a child like manner, as she dragged a dining room chair across the wooden floor and positioning it near the table.

"Go get your clothes then, Ness," I said, offering my hand out to her but she refused it.

"Not _my _dress up, Jake." A huge grin spilt over her face, "Yours."

Blondie howled with laughter as Nessie pulled a second chair behind the first and climbed onto it.

"It was Rosalie's idea," Nessie added, and I let a low growl rippled out of my chest as Blondie laughed some more. It was a nice sound, but not coming from _her_. I wanted to shut her mouth for her so she'd never be able to laugh again.

"I guess Barbie's _do _have an expiry date," I joked, chuckling at Blondie's sudden facial expression change, referring to her inability to stand in as the model.

"Jake!" Nessie snapped, hitting my lightly on the arm. "Sit down, I want to start!"

I rolled my eyes at her demand, but could not get over how innocent she still looked as she pointed for me to sit, which I obediently did.

"Close your eyes, mutt," Blondie hissed, and I felt something warm wrap around my eyes to tighten them. Alarm bells began ringing, but it was only Nessie's steady breathing and heart beat that stopped me from ripping the restriction from my eyes.

"Where's Mom and Dad, Ness?" I asked, wondering if I'd get to see Bells this afternoon, or if she was off somewhere with Edward… no doubt the last one.

"Busy," I heard Alice say, a smile evident in her voice and a deeper meaning behind her single word answer; that's all they ever seemed to do when I was about, giving them some time alone. The thought still sickened me.

I felt my hair being pulled by tiny, miracle hands, yanking and tugging carelessly in all directions. Wincing when she was exceptionally rough, she calmed slightly. She didn't seem to realise her own strength, but my hair/fur was a weakness. It hurt when pulled.

"Nessie, what are you doing?" I asked wearily, getting more and more uncertain as time passed. If it was not Nessie who was playing with my short hair, I would have refused point blank to sit and be made into some kind of real life doll. But it was Nessie there, and I could not refuse, no matter what she was doing.

"Just making you look prettier, Jake." She smiled, and I loved how she'd said _prettier_; a typical little girl response. It was during these times, these times of innocence and childlike attitude, that I enjoyed her company more. It was these times when her accelerated growth did not scare me.

Of course, I could only enjoy it so much with the scent of Blondie breathing down my neck, Alice chirping on about some crap that I held no interest in.

"Rosalie, you need to take his mask off," Nessie instructed. Surprising me, Blondie did, unravelling whatever had been placed over my eyes and I looked around.

"Sit still, Jake!" Ness complained, which I rolled my eyes at. She sure could be a handful. "Which colour clips? Blue, pink, green or red?" She said, holding out an example of each in her tiny hands. I would have instantly gone for blue, a more masculine colour, but it was a sky blue with polka dots on the metal and a butterfly pendant stuck to the end. I felt my balls drop.

"Green, I guess." I muttered causing Blondie to smirk smugly as the clips were carefully added to my hair. I grumbled quietly about how none of the other males of the house had to go through such measures.

"Can I start on his face, Nessie?" I heard Alice squeak. I spun my head round to see her holding a small brush that was not for hair. What it was for, I had no idea. But my face?

"I want to help," Nessie smiled excitedly, jumping off her chair that she'd been standing on with a small thud as she landed delicately.

Alice stood around me, getting out a palette of colours. Were they going to _paint_ me? As Nessie hopped onto my lap, her own brush in her hand, I started to get scared.

"What are you doing?" I asked incredulously, trying to keep the disgust out of my voice. I'd already got how ever many pretty green clips in my hair, putting it into god knows what position, and now I was going to where make-up?!

"Making. You. Look. Pretty." Nessie separated each word impatiently and finished with a sigh. "Now be quiet, and sit still!" I really pitied myself… I mean, we'd discussed imprinting and stuff like that; Nessie knew everything know, but I mean… _if _anything ever developed into something more, if Nessie chose to see me as a husband rather than a brother, then my god, I was going to have my hands full! Well, either way I would… I simply couldn't say no!

"That's good, Jake," Nessie praised as she brushed something against my cheek. It felt awful; the cool substance that itched. It didn't belong there. I was a man on nature, not some pretty boy in make-up. That was Edward's job.

"Now, now, Jake…" I heard the voice and I spun, causing a vicious streak of make-up to be pasted across my face in a place it wasn't supposed to be. I heard Alice's teeth grind together in frustration and Nessie sigh, hitting my shoulder and trying to get me to spin back around.

Edward stood there, a smile so large on his face, it took over.

"I'm the pretty boy?" He tried to suppress the smile by biting his lips, much like Bella did, but it was not working. His smugness was too controlling.

"This is a one off. You look like this _all _the time," I replied hastily. Unfortunately for me, I had no idea what I looked like, how feminine I looked so I was in no position to deny how bad I looked. I knew Nessie, and I knew Alice quite well too; both wouldn't do things half way.

_Oh crap, _I cursed. Half way? Surely they'd just stop at hair and make-up… please, dear god, tell me they will stop at hair and make-up.

"Something tells me not, Jake," Edward broke the news to me, and I sighed. I'd come round to spend some time with Nessie, not have her, Alice and Blondie work on me. Again, I began grumbling.

"I'll be back in a minute. Just going to fetch Bella," Edward announced.

"Why? Where is she?" I asked, thinking bitterly that they were never without each other.

"Erm," Edward said. I saw him bite his lip; he was spending way too much time with Bells, "Clearing up…" Edward trailed off before running out of the house.

I scrunched my eyes closed, trying to rid myself of the image that Edward had painted for me, however vague.

"They're always making mess," Nessie said matter-of-factly, and I cringed. She was three, and she knew about this kind of thing?! I did trust Bella and Edward somewhat to keep her in the dark… maybe Ness just thought they made mess, not necessarily knowing _how _they made a mess. My stomach twisted with the sickening thought.

"Am I done yet?" I asked impatiently, looking down to see Nessie's legs interlocked with mine to give her a stable seat to sit upon. She looked up at me through Bella's brown eyes, big pools of beauty, and shook her head.

"Not even close," Blondie added, before disappearing up the curving stairs of the house.

Not minutes later, I'd had something green pasted across my eyelids that felt gluey, sticking and uncomfortable, something Alice had informed me would match my clips, if I was, in any case, worrying about mismatching. I'd gotten an audience consisting of Bella and Edward, holding hands in a sickly way and Blondie had returned.

With a god awful dress. A freaking dress on a coat hanger was in her arms; a beastly thing with frills and lace, which looked like it belonged on some fat woman. Was I really that big? Because I definitely didn't doubt that it was for me…

"Oh no, oh no. No. No. No. No!" I hissed over and over again, lifting Nessie off my lap and standing up. Alice attempted to get me to sit again, as Bella burst into fits of giggles. How awful did I look?

"For Nessie?" Alice manipulated, but I shook my head.

"For no-one," I hissed.

But then I felt a tugging of my sleeve and I looked down at Nessie, standing with a pout and wide eyes.

"For _me?_" She asked sadly, her forehead creased.

With gritted teeth, I returned to my seat with my fists clenched and eyes closed. Deep breaths, Jake, deep breaths, I told myself over and over. I was in no danger of phasing, I was not that angry… just impatient.

"Way to hold your own, Jake," Bella called from where she was sitting. My eyes flung open and I shot her a deathly scare that had no affect on her whatsoever. She just laughed harder.

"We're _nearly _done," Alice smiled, pasting something on my lips. It smelt of strawberries, and I had the urge to either lick it or wipe it off. But Nessie had returned to my lap, every inch of her perfection, and I would not dishearten her that way.

"There!" Nessie exclaimed, clapping her hands loudly. It'll all be over soon, I compromised with myself. Nessie jumped off my lap, and I stood.

"Give him the dress, Rosalie," She instructed which she did, handing it to me. I tried not to touch it, but the truth was it was inevitable. I _had _to wear it. God damn it!

"You want my help?" Bella offered. I looked up to see her glorious smile, still as beautiful as I remember… it was just that Nessie was more so.

Edward growled a little, a natural reaction to which I rolled my eyes. Nessie couldn't do this awful zip up, Blondie and Alice were going no where near me, and I was not stripping in front of Edward. And as much as he didn't want me to strip in front of Bella, he suppressed his irrational jealous rage, understanding it was on best friend terms.

"Come on then, _Jakette_," Bella smirked, leading me up the stairs. I heard Edward growl again, but then he coughed, trying to disguise his involuntary reaction.

"I could take you in a fight, you know, Bells," I laughed, hitting her playfully and pushing her forwards. She led me into one bathroom out of many, the filthy rich vamps.

"Strip," Bella ordered, turning her back and facing the wall so I could do it as dignified as a man wearing make up and hair clips could.

"Da da da da," I sung, taking off my shirt and exposing my chest. Bella stole a glance, laughing at my striptease before turning around again, muttering something about hurrying up. "Come on, Bells, put me out of my misery," I snapped, after taking my trousers off. I felt a little exposed in my boxers, but nothing she hadn't seen before. I was always walking round in shorts and nothing else.

She ruffled the dress, sliding it over my head and my arms fell through the holes. It was itchy, it was uncomfortable, it looked awful, but it was for Nessie.

"Well…" Bella began, looking me up and down, analysing me. "I'd stick to male clothing," She laughed, her lips curving into the same smile that was downstairs.

I fought the urge to look in the mirror, knowing I'd back out if I saw. But just as I was going to walk out of the room to my awaiting, impatient little Nessie, Bella caught my hand.

"Jake," She breathed, smiling, "Thank you. I know you love Nessie – in the right way, for now at least," She paused and squeezed my hand, maybe a little tighter than she needed to. She was still exceptionally strong. "I know you're doing it for Nessie,"

Her words touched me as she leaned in to kiss my cheek, her delicate lips pressing against my skin, and I felt better. Not just for Nessie, but for Bella too. Maybe my feelings for her had been replaced by something else, but I still loved her. She was still my best friend.

"Are you coming?" I heard Edward shout, no doubt wanting to break this sentimental moment. Did he get enough of those, already? Did he really have to break it?

I let it pass as I descended the stairs, tripping over more than once the long unnecessary skirt of this thing. Laughter burst out of the room which had been waiting silently for appearance. Nessie squealed excitedly, clapping her hands together again, Bella returning to Edward. And then I noticed the giant vamp, Emmett, with Blondie on his lap.

"My god, mate. Sorry, but I wouldn't date you," Emmett called, and he, too, broke out into a booming laugh.

"Happy, Nessie?" I shot at her and her face lit up like a thousand lights as she nodded happily. "You just wanted to laugh at me?"

This only encouraged another fit of laughter as Alice ran somewhere, returning almost instantly with a full length mirror in her arms. I closed my eyes as she positioned it in front of me, bracing myself.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a man dressed in drag. His short hair was pulled into small clumps, positioned with small green clips with little flowers randomly stuck to the metal. His eyelids were a similar green, and his face pale from the amount of whatever you call it, and big pink circles that resembled the badly decorated, over the top dolls. The dress looked worse on; green frilly sleeves, puffy shoulders, which clung to his male shaped hips. It sagged at the bottom, too long for even his tall stature.

I was ashamed to admit that man was me.

"Where the hell did you get the dress?" Bella exclaimed, seeing it in the same light that I did.

"It belonged to Esme's family somewhere down the line. I never chucked it away, though, for some reason. And now I know why," Alice smirked, but even her expression couldn't hide the blunt fact it was disgusting.

"Can I take it off now?" I asked, looking around for permission until I found the little girl who had demanded I do it, the little girl I couldn't refuse.

She shook her head, and I took her into my arms quickly, causing her to squeal.

"Are you going to take these clips out of my hair?" I said in a playfully threatening tone. She shook her head stubbornly, squealing all the while. "I think you should!" I exclaimed, tickling her and spinning her round.

"Okay! Okay, I will. I will!" She finally squealed, defeated.

"Come on then," I said putting her down, and taking her by the shoulders to the chair. "It's not nice to laugh at people," I smiled, turning around and pulling a face at Bella which she shrugged off.

The family seemed to disperse a little, losing interest now they were coming down from the high I'd created for them all.

When it was just Nessie and I alone, she leaned over my shoulder and brought her lips to my ear.

"I didn't do it to laugh at you, Jake," She admitted, and I turned around so I could see her face, "Rosalie said we should do it and I thought we should too."

Her brown eyes seemed a little apologetic, and I wondered if she'd taken my words to heart. Sure, it was funny, and I'd laugh too. I was just embarrassed; they hadn't hurt my feelings or any of that crap.

"It doesn't matter, Ness, honest." I assured, but I didn't turn away from her face. "Why did you want to play dress up, then?" I asked.

"Because it's fun," She shrugged, "But because its strange for a little girl to have a big boy friend. I wanted a girl friend for a change," She smiled sadly, and my heart ached for her.

"It's not strange, Nessie. Your Mom and I were good friends before you came along," I told her, remembering those times.

"There's another reason too," She informed and I nodded for her to continue, "I wanted to see what you look like in a dress,"

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_Review, please? I'd love to hear your thoughts :)_

_Thanks for reading xx_


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